How to control Mole Crickets in lawn

Mole crickets are an insect that most people have never heard of; however, over the last few weeks, we have seen quite a few instances of them infesting lawns, including our own display lawns.

What are they? 

Mole crickets are an odd-looking insect about 50mm long. While they look similar to regular crickets, Mole crickets don’t jump around like other types of crickets; instead, they tunnel through soil using their abnormally large but short front legs. If you ever manage to catch one of these insects in your hand, the first thing they'll try and do is burrow through the gap between your fingers, which feels kind of strange!  While they will feed on most types of plant material, they are noted for the damage they can do to lawns. They do this by burrowing through the topsoil, disturbing and eating the root zone as they go. 

You'll know if you have them because you'll see mounds of dirt appearing on the surface of your lawn. As most gardeners will know, mole crickets aren't the only insects to leave mounds on the surface. Ants and worms do the same; however, on a closer look, mounds created by mole crickets are more like irregular blobs rather than the symmetrical mounds that ants and worms leave behind. 

Mole crickets eat at night and can tunnel as far as 5m.  As I said earlier, you may see small mounds of soil scattered on the soil surface, or the lawn may feel spongy underfoot due to the detachment of turf from the soil. The grass will eventually turn brown and die in areas where mole crickets have tunneled. 

What do you do if you have them?

Just this week, we discovered that we had an infestation in one of our display lawns. The tell-tale mounds of soil appeared on one of the lawns and, over a period of weeks, increased in number. Despite washing the mounds away with water, they would re-appear the next day. In a short space of time, the mounds started appearing on nearby lawns as well. 

Mole crickets and their nymphs can be flushed out of the soil with soapy water. If you want to check if you have them, add around two tablespoons of dish soap to five litres of water. In the early morning or late evening, pour it over an area of about 1-2 square metres. If you have mole crickets, they will come to the surface of the soil in a few minutes. If you see two or more mole crickets come to the surface, it’s time to treat your lawn.

They are not as destructive as black beetles, so if you don't mind some tunnels and the odd dead patch, you may just want to leave them. However, if you do want to control them, the best way is by spraying with a soil insecticide such as Surefire Five Star. Five Star is a Bifenthrin-based chemical that will treat both the larvae and the adult. When applied to our infested display lawn (which is only 5sqm), around 30 mole crickets came to the surface in a short amount of time.  Interestingly, this product will not only take care of any mole crickets but will also control black beetle, their larvae and ants as well, so it's a good product to have on your garage shelf for seasonal, preventative use.

As usual, if you have a problem that you cannot solve, give us a call on 82980555 for some advice or send an email to info@paulmunnsinstantlawn.com.au