There is a bait containing "Nosema locustae", a disease of these critters, available that can help. Most sites I see recommend strong poisons many of which have been removed from the market because of human health concerns.

Thank you, I did a web search and see that I can order it online.

I've applied a homemade spray from serrano peppers, castile soap and hot water. So far the population seems a vigorous as ever.

The great thing about gardening is that there is always next year!

Doing some on-line research about grasshoppers, I have estimated that I have approx. 13,000 hoppers on my property! It's hard to go outside, they leap all over you and cling to any bare skin! They are mating now, it's pretty sickening!

I was told that planting castor bean plants would repel grasshoppers from my yard. Does anyone know if this is true?

Also, I put down some D-Con trays and the hoppers eat it in one day. I haven't seen any abatement, so don't know if this is working. I have placed the trays in places where birds and wildlife aren't apt to find them, and the bait does disappear really quickly; but I worry that D-Con will harm the environment. Any opinions? I always welcome advice.

The D-Con is having no affect what so ever on the grasshoppers. The active ingrediant in D-Con is warfarin which causes blood to not coagulate and in large enough doses causes internal bleeding which then kills the target. It will not affect grasshoppers, or any other "cold blooded" insect.

D-Con with warfarin will damage almost any mammal that eats the grasshoppers.

And some birds:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20346414

This is a grasshopper plague year - aside from protecting the most valuable stuff with screening, there's not much you can do.