Successful management of grasshoppers must include the breeding areas. Once grasshoppers move into yards, control options decrease and primarily involve repeated insecticide applications. Grasshoppers often are the most common insect invaders of Colorado yards and Gardens and among the most difficult pests to control. For a variety of reasons, grasshopper populations cycle naturally from season to season, causing extensive damage during outbreak years. Annually, grasshopper problems tend to increase as summer progresses and usually continue even after the first frost.
Grasshoppers favor certain vegetable plants such as lettuce, carrots and onions.
They usually avoid conifer trees and shrubs. However, during years when grasshoppers are extremely abundant and food is scarce, they feed on almost all plants. Grasshoppers generally don't feed on most trees and shrubs. However, these may provide convenient resting sites and grasshoppers often are found on them. Grasshoppers may nibble on foliage and tender bark, causing considerable injury over the course of a season.