Adult female grasshoppers lay eggs in the soil which hatch in the spring and mature through the summer.
Grasshoppers have chewing mouthparts and leave holes in leaves or consume the entire leaf.
Normally grasshoppers are not a problem in gardens and landscapes. Many birds, including quail, are dependent on them as an important food supply and tend to keep populations down most years. Occasionally, after a particularly wet spring, populations may build up and begin defoliating everything in site. Damage is usually limited to a few weeks in early summer immediately after range weeds dry up. Capture and removal is easiest in the cool morning when they are slower.