How to Get Rid of Grasshoppers in Your Yard During a Utah Drought

If it feels like your Utah yard is suddenly being overrun by a ravenous army of grasshoppers, you aren’t imagining things. As the state navigates an extreme, hot drought year, homeowners along the Wasatch Front are reporting massive, destructive swarms invading their landscaping.

But why are they hitting residential areas so hard right now, and how do you stop them before they strip your plants bare?

Here is the ultimate homeowner's survival guide to deterring, controlling, all to get rid of grasshoppers in my yard during a severe drought season.

Why Is the Drought Making the Grasshopper Problem Worse?

In a normal Utah summer, grasshoppers are content to stay out in uncultivated fields, foothills, and roadside ditches feeding on wild weeds and native vegetation.

However, during a severe drought year, that wild vegetation dries up and dies off by early summer. Left with no food in their natural habitats, millions of grasshoppers migrate directly into irrigated residential neighborhoods. Because you are working hard to keep your turf healthy on local two-day-a-week watering limits, your yard acts like a glowing green oasis in a desert. To a hungry grasshopper, your prized perennials, vegetable gardens, and lush lawns are an open buffet.

1. Focus on a "Perimeter Defense" Strategy

When grasshoppers are actively migrating from surrounding dry terrain into your green space, treating individual plants inside your garden is a losing battle. You have to stop them before they establish a foothold.

• Establish a Buffer Zone: Apply a professional-grade residual insecticide barrier to a 10-to-15-foot perimeter around your property lines, especially if your yard borders open fields, foothills, or common ditch areas.
• Target the Nymphs: Grasshoppers don't start out with wings. Early in the season, they are small, flightless "nymphs." Catching them in this stage along your property borders is 10 times easier than trying to deal with fully grown, flying adults later in the summer.

2. Switch to Grasshopper-Resistant, Drought-Tolerant Landscaping

If you are adding new plants to your landscape this year, choose varieties that serve a double purpose: surviving the heat and deterring pests. While a starving grasshopper will eventually try to eat almost anything, they actively dislike plants with strong scents, tough textures, or milky sap.

Plants Grasshoppers Tend to Avoid:

• Perennials: Salvia, Russian Sage, Lavender, Verbena, and Coneflowers.
• Shrubs: Juniper, Lilac, and Boxwood.
• Vegetables: Squash, tomatoes, and peas are generally less appealing to them than leafy greens and corn.

By surrounding your property edges with these unappealing options, you create a natural deterrent that forces them to look elsewhere for food.

3. Protect Your Turf: The Secret Weapon is a Strong Lawn

Grasshoppers love feeding on turfgrass blades, and a lawn that is already stressed by extreme heat and strict watering limits can quickly succumb to pest damage. A thick, deeply rooted lawn can withstand a grasshopper attack much better than a weak, patchy yard.

Because pest control and lawn health go hand-in-hand, your best line of defense is ensuring your soil has the nutrients it needs to fight back.

Pairing a strong perimeter pest barrier with professional Lawn Care Packages ensures your grass roots remain deep, resilient, and capable of recovering rapidly from heat and pest stress. When your soil and roots are healthy, your landscape is naturally protected.

4. Deploy Physical Barriers for Vulnerable Plants

If you have a high-value vegetable garden or newly planted shrubs that the grasshoppers are targeted on, temporary physical barriers are a lifesaver during peak migration weeks.

• Floating Row Covers: Use lightweight, breathable agricultural fabric or cheesecloth over your garden beds. This allows sunlight and water to reach your plants while physically blocking pests from chewing on the foliage.
• Protect Young Trees: Wrap the trunks of young trees with window screening or tree wrap to prevent grasshoppers from gnawing on the tender bark, which can permanently stunt or kill the tree.

Professional Grasshopper Defense Along the Wasatch Front

When a drought-driven pest migration hits its peak, DIY remedies and store-bought bug sprays often can't keep up with the sheer volume of invading insects.

At Utah Pest Police, we specialize in building heavy-duty, customized yard treatments and structural perimeter barriers designed to stop invasions in their tracks. Don't let your landscaping get stripped bare this summer.

Contact Utah Pest Police today for a professional pest evaluation, and let’s secure your property’s perimeter!