4 O'Clock & Brugmansia Leaf Chomping

I've had several 4 O'clock plants have their leaves eaten back to the center vein overnight. I have seen some HUGE black and orange grasshopper-looking things near them. They actually stared at me! Any connection? What is the remedy?
I also have several Angel Trumpet starting plants which grow beautifully, then have several leaves eaten to nothing, but the plant usually grows leaves back. They're getting pretty "stalky" looking. They were all rooted from neighborhood cuttings. Are caterpillars eating them? Again, what to do?
I'm sure I have 2 different critters here. Thanks for your ideas for cures!

Grasshoppers are vegetarians, and can indeed chomp their way through a lot of plants.

Caterpillars are hungry little babies, too. Their damage starts small, then gets worse as they grow.

Both caterpillars and grasshoppers can be controlled with sprays that target each species.
Dipel is specific to caterpillars. It is best sprayed on the plant when the caterpillars are very small. The caterpillar eats a bit of leaf with the bacteria on it, gets sick and quits eating. Bacillus thuringiensis is the bacteria involved.

Semaspore is the name of the grasshopper equivalent, it gives them a disease specific to grasshoppers called Nosema locustae.

Go out at dusk and dawn and see if you can find the critters.

Roll up some newspaper and leave it on the ground near the plants. A lot of bugs hide on the ground through the day and climb up into the plant at night. Empty the rolled newspaper into a white bucket to see what you have caught.

Thank you! I will visit my local garden center posthaste!

Since I wrote this, my 5 foot tall Angel Trumpet lost ALL of it's leaves overnight. All of them! Not a speck left, but some spider silk from the stalk to other plants.
I've had what I thought were spider mites on house plants - teensy spiders, silk, and black dots on leaf undersides - which rampaged through them pretty handily. I had especially checked the underside of leaves on these outdoor plants for any signs of anything.

I guess a soap-oil-water spray isn't going to cut it, eh? I'm also going outside right now with a flashlight on a critter hunt!

Thank you again very much!

Anything capable of stripping a 5' tall Angel's Trumpet in one night is not going to be bothered by the milder pesticides. But if it is caterpillar or grasshopper there are some good options. Is there anything left to be sprayed so they can still get the bait?

There is one small, shriveled leaf hanging on, and another one, green, maybe 2 1/2" long, folded, a little more firmly attached. (Going out in the dark the other morning, I noticed that Angel Trumpet leaves fold up slightly in the dark.) I have 4 small, water-rooted plants in the backyard, one of which lost a few leaves maybe a month ago, but not nearly as dramatically as the large one in front. It was in the middle of the other 3 which were unaffected. Since I posed this question on the 18th, the plant in question is sprouting green growth on the nodules where the other leaves had been - ! Is this perhaps a normal thing, dropping leaves suddenly, and quickly growing replacements? There were no leaves on the ground when I noticed them missing; it was almost as though someone had actually plucked them off and carried them away.

However, I will get both pesticides to be prepared, and, with luck, get ahead of the problem. And, inspect all plants on a regular basis!

Thank you very much for your concern and good advice. My "black" thumb will turn "green" someday!

Pests start out small, and can only eat the tender new leaves. As they grow their appetite increases, and their mouths get stronger. They can eat tougher leaves, and more of them.

It may be that the critters that ate the Angels Trumpet have moved on to some other plant, but keep a sharp eye open for the first sign of whatever it is.
Bug poop, a nibbled leaf, actually seeing the pest.

Plants do have the ability to recover from damage, but having all its leaves eaten is pretty severe. Don't let it happen again, it weakens the plant each time it happens.

I wonder if it is something larger. Do you have deer in your area?

No deer, but black bears lately, and I'm sure they're not eating plants! They go straight for the garbage cans.
I have been going out every day near dusk to check all plants. I planted some tomatoes, and I know they're prone to caterpillars.
Yesterday I saw a horde of what I identified as Eastern or Southeastern Lubber Grasshoppers. I ran across a couple of adults last summer - big, black with red and orange stripes. Ugly! These were black with a red stripe head to tail, and they were all over a cement wall and river rock drainage. I understand the eggs are laid underground, and start hatching right about now in Florida. I newspaper-swatted and stomped on all that I saw, and waited to see if any came back. I got a few more 15 minutes later. Nothing there today at all. I've never seen anything like them, and certainly not like the adults (2)! Downright scary looking!

Thank you for all your good information - I'm serious about getting a few vegetables and flowers to grow and thrive this year! They seem healthy right now and I sure want to keep them that way!

Update: My 5' Brumangsia is sprouting all new leaves, in little clusters of 2 and 3, on every nodule where a leaf had previously been, starting at about 18" to 24" from the ground! Evidently, no permanent damage was done. Could this be some sort of a "natural" thing? My little one in the backyard is also regrowing leaves and has produced a whole new branch at ground level!

Also, during my now daily inspections, I saw a mid-size Lubber, evidently from the hatching of a few weeks ago. He was skulking around my Cosmos seedlings. I did a Mexican Hat Dance on him....

It is not natural for these plants to suddenly lose all their leaves. They might do it as a reaction to some kind of stress, but you would see the fallen leaves on the ground. Something ate them.
Since you have been seeing grasshoppers, that might be the answer.

Study up on that type of grasshopper. The general life style is for the female to lay eggs underground. Control starts by turning over the soil and exposing these eggs to the sun and rain to kill them. You cannot kill all the grasshoppers in your neighborhood, and they will travel, but at least you can get rid of the young ones that start out in your yard.
Spraying with a grasshopper specific pesticide in anticipation of their arrival is a good strategy, too.

http://www.planetnatural.com/product/semaspore-grasshopper-control/