CAES Newswire

 College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences UGA Cooperative Extension
Menu
Published on 06/20/13

Late June is ideal time to treat lawns for mole crickets

By William G. Tyson

Recent rains and warm weather have mole crickets out in full force, wreaking havoc in lawns.

Mole crickets damage turf by feeding on plant roots, stems and leaves. And, they tunnel through the soil. Their feeding is not considered as damaging as their tunneling, however, significant feeding injury does occur in pastures.

Emerge from soil

As temperatures warm, adult mole crickets emerge from the soil and begin to feed and mate. Flights begin in March and continue into May and June. During these periods of mating populations in an area can increase significantly in a very short period of time.

Eggs are laid in clutches of about 40 eggs per clutch and a single female may lay as many as 10 to 12 clutches. The eggs hatch into small nymphs that look much like the adults but are smaller and lack wings. Nymphs grow throughout the summer until fall when they begin to change into adults. Adults can do considerable damage in the spring, but the most serious injury usually occurs late in the season (August-October) when the mole crickets are large and very active.

However, before you invest time and money to treat for this pest, make sure it’s really mole crickets that are causing your lawn problems.

Do this before you treat

Homeowners can test their lawns for mole cricket using dish soap. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of liquid dishwashing detergent in 2 gallons of water. Pour the solution over an area of approximately 4 square feet. Count the number of mole crickets that emerge (observe area for 4 to 5 minutes). Repeat this in several different locations in your lawn. If an average of 2 or more mole crickets is flushed per site, your lawn needs treatment.

Regardless of the pesticide you chose, some simple steps can help make treatment more effective.

It’s best to apply insecticides as late in the day as possible because mole crickets are most active at night and heat and sunlight affect the effectiveness of pesticides. Also, unless the label instructs otherwise, irrigate thoroughly after application to move the pesticide from the foliage down to the soil surface.

Use water in the fight

You can also use irrigation to manipulate mole crickets and improve your pesticides effectiveness.

Allow the soil to dry out for several days and then irrigate thoroughly in the evening. Apply the insecticide the next afternoon. Mole crickets are sensitive to soil moisture and will move into the ground to find comfortable conditions if the upper soil surface is dry. Irrigation will bring them back up to resume feeding the following night, making them much easier to control.

Timing the application of your mole cricket insecticide can be as important as choosing the right product, and late June is the ideal apply mole cricket insecticides.

The nymph population increases throughout June and almost all eggs that are going to hatch will have done so by July. While time of peak egg hatch varies from year to year, precise timing of control efforts is not necessary. Delaying application until late June ensures that all of the current generation has hatched. Small nymphs spend more time at or near the surface than larger nymphs do and are relatively easy to kill.

Timing is everything

Almost any of the routinely recommended materials will provide good control of young crickets. As summer goes on and the crickets grow, activity and damage increase and the crickets become harder to kill. By late August or early September, control may be difficult to achieve.

For early season (June-July) treatment of most home lawns, many mole cricket control products will do a good job. For late season (August-October) mole cricket control, treat with a bait formulation since mole crickets search actively for food in the late summer and early fall.

Bifenthrin, carbaryl (Sevin 20B) and imidacloprid (Bayer Advanced Lawn Product) are a few of the chemicals that control mole crickets. Always read and follow label recommendations. Visit your local home and garden center to select a mole cricket control pesticide or call a landscape industry professional to make a mole cricket control application.

For more on pests in Georgia turfgrasses, see the University of Georgia turfgrass team website at www.GeorgiaTurf.com.

William Tyson is the UGA Extension coordinator for Bulloch County.

Authors:
William G. Tyson
Experts/Sources:
William G. Tyson
Southern Mole Cricket
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Download Image
University and state leaders cut the ribbon during the Science and Ag Hill dedication ceremony. (Chamberlain Smith/UGA) CAES News
UGA dedicates first phase of Science and Ag Hill modernization 11/01/24
The University of Georgia held a dedication ceremony on Oct. 30 to celebrate the completion of the first phase of renovations to modernize research and instruction facilities and infrastructure on UGA’s Science and Ag Hill. This area of campus, located just south of Sanford Stadium, includes buildings dedicated to a variety of scientific disciplines such as biology, physics, geology and agricultural sciences.
CAES doctoral students Sofia Varriano and Leniha Lagarde follow farmer Clay Brady to the pasture where many of his chickens are kept. CAES News
UGA researchers study how free-range chickens influence farm sustainability 10/31/24 Maria M. Lameiras
Researchers in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are studying how pastured and free-range chickens impact ecosystems on integrated crop-livestock farms. Supported by a $749,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, entomology doctoral student Sofia Varriano and her thesis advisor, agroecologist and systems biology Professor Bill Snyder, are testing the promise of integrated crop-livestock agriculture to increase the sustainability of smaller farms.
Combining data collection and analysis with plant pathology, precision agriculture and robotics, the UGA team will build a photographic library of the foliar symptoms caused by onion diseases and other physiological disorders, feed them into the AI software, and use machine learning to identify the diseases based on pattern and color recognition from the images. CAES News
UGA uses AI, robotics to improve Georgia’s Vidalia sweet onion crop 10/23/24 Jordan Powers
A multidisciplinary team of UGA researchers aims to enhance the competitiveness of Vidalia onion growers in Georgia by providing them with the ability to confidently detect onion diseases early, enabling them to make management decisions on their crop at a critical time. These abilities, researchers say, should result in increased yield and quality of marketable onions and an overall increase in efficiency and productivity.
The study represents the most detailed and comprehensive picture to date of the health of the monarch fall migration in Eastern North America. (Photo courtesy of Pat Davis) CAES News
The monarch butterfly may not be endangered, but its migration is 10/22/24 Leigh Hataway
With vigorous debate surrounding the health of the monarch butterfly, new research from the University of Georgia may have answered the biggest question plaguing butterfly researchers. Why are the wintering populations declining while breeding populations are stable? Published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study suggests that monarchs are dying off during their fall migration south to Mexico.
Gavin Shytle CAES News
Gavin Shytle changes the game with UGA Grounds Crew 10/01/24
It’s a special moment to step inside Sanford Stadium and walk across that sprawling green field between the hedges. While the grass beneath your feet may not always be your first thought at the Freshman Welcome or Commencement, it is for Gavin Shytle. Keeping the turf safe, healthy, and aesthetically pleasing is the sworn duty of Shytle and his fellow turfgrass management majors. Before athletes even hit the ground running, he makes sure the ground is prepped for them.
heavily infestedToH web CAES News
CAES combats invasive spotted lanternfly threatening U.S. farms and vineyards 09/24/24 Jordan Powers
The spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula), an invasive insect pest that first arrived in Pennsylvania in 2014 and has since spread to 16 additional states in the Eastern U.S., has state governments urging residents to be on the lookout and to use caution when moving firewood. The insect’s preference for feeding on the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) — another invasive species — has led to significant pest reservoirs, affecting vineyards and other agricultural sectors, including hardwoods and other ornamental and fruiting trees.