Insect Plagues - Mole Crickets

This treatment entails us connecting a hose to your mains water supply. We connect a venturi to this hose. The venturi has a small pipe attached to it which we lower into a bucket with a mixture of insecticide and water. With the force of the water moving through the venturi it creates a vacuum and sucks up the mixture from the bucket and mixing it at a 1 to 10 ratio with the mains water. We then apply great volumes of the water and a very slow pace to your entire lawn area to try and soak it as best as possible. With the watering that you do the following day it also helps to get this pesticide even further into the soil. The pesticide lasts 8-10 weeks in the soil dependent on temperature and watering. Note: approximate duration dependent on water pressure and tap availability – It takes approximately an hour for one person to spray 100m2 of lawn with average water pressure.


Description

Mole crickets vary in size and appearance, but most of them are of moderate size for an insect, typically 3-5 cm long. They are muscular, as one may verify by holding one in the hand, they are inoffensive, but the confined insect will try to dig its way out with considerable force. The abdomen is rather soft, but the head, forelimbs, and pro-thorax are heavily sclerotic. The hind legs are shaped somewhat like the legs of a real cricket, but are more adapted for shoving while digging, rather than leaping, which they do rarely and poorly


Biology

Most species of mole crickets can fly powerfully, if not with agility or frequency. Usually they fly only when moving long distances, such as when changing territory. The adults of some species of mole cricket may fly as far as 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) during the mating season. Mole crickets are active most of the year, but spend the winter in hibernation. Younger insects can have shorter wings, and their appearance varies by species, with some resembling grasshoppers or very large ants or dark-colored "termites" when wings are short. Mole crickets are omnivores, feeding on larvae, worms, roots, and grasses. Common predators of mole crickets include birds, rats, skunks, armadillos, raccoons, foxes and blue ants. Mole crickets are relatively common, but because they are nocturnal and spend nearly all their lives underground in extensive tunnel systems, they are rarely seen. Mole crickets amplify their song by chirping in a burrow that they've carefully sculpted into the shape of a double exponential horn, which acts as a megaphone. They inhabit agricultural fields, lawns and golf courses. They are present in every continent with the exception of Antarctica, and are commonly considered pests.