Help - need organic control for mole crickets quickly!

Don't know why I didn't try this forum first, but I have tried other forums with very few responses, so I am hoping someone here can help. Have had a bad vole problem that we finally solved after four years!! If you are interested in the details, see http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/740278/ . This spring we still started seeing holes and plants dropping suddenly from their roots being eaten, but no voles in our traps. Discovered that we have an insect that is very rare to our area, but since they lay many eggs and can fly, it is only a matter of time before this spreads. Mole crickets! See http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=4957797 and http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/857879/ .

Someone out there in an area where this is more common, must have a solution. We have resorted to planting only a few veggies in our 25x30 garden, in buckets with the drainage holes stuffed with plastic netting, but the pots are too small to produce much of a crop. There must be something we can do to discourage these bugs. Any help will be most welcome!

This site has info on a nematode and a wasp that can control the crickets http://molecrickets.ifas.ufl.edu/mcri0001.htm No personal experience, I just googled "controlling mole crickets" and this was one of the first links that was listed

Thanks ecrane3. Yes, we saw that site - quite technical and long term, and somewhat difficult to find specific products to apply. We first contacted our local Cornell Extension agent who was the one who told us this was very unusual in our area. He said he would contact a specialist, but they do a great job and I am sure they are quite busy so I have not heard anything.

At this point we continue to dig up small sections of the garden and are continuing to find full grown crickets as well as egg masses and are removing both, but I am sure there are 10 more we don't find, for every one we do find. As the above article says, larger transplants appear to be more tolerant so we are hoping to save the season by keeping a few plants in pots until their roots develop. Above all, we are wishing that someone would tell us that a soaking with some natural product like the garlic/mint solution will do the trick, but I think it's just that - wishful thinking.

That reference gives you the names of the organisms that will control the crickets, some of them may not be widely available but at least for the nematodes they listed the tradename of a product, so if you google that you should be able to come up with sources. And with the others it lists the scientific name of the organism, so again if you do a little googling you should be able to find sources for them if they exist.

There was another reference or two that mentioned a product called Talstar, its active ingredient is synthetic pyrethrins. You could probably find a product made with natural pyrethrins which would be OK for organic purposes. Personally I don't see much difference between natural and synthetic pyrethrins, they both kill good bugs along with bad so in my opinion I'd rather not use either one, but not everyone feels that way and if you're really desperate maybe you'd feel OK about using a natural pyrethrin product.

ecrane - If what you say about the pyrethrins is true, I agree with you. I felt the same way when I had to give my children antibiotics - they kill the good with the bad. I tried to compensate by using antibiotics with yoghurt, so we will pursue the nematodes and not the pyrethrins

As "seniors" some of this information is quite complicated, but my husband called the company in Iowa that was mentioned in the above link. They gave him a thorough description about the nematodes which is sold under the product name of Nematac S. Since it is a living organism it can be refrigerated for a period of time, but there is no definitive information on the shelf life. It must be ordered directly from them and for best results, applied immediately after delivery. Unfortunately they are out until mid-August. They also told him that they usually don't survive a cold winter, but who can predict that. We will hope to apply it in and around the garden in August if we can get it.

Here is an interesting article about Nematac S with some good detail: http://baker.ifas.ufl.edu/mole_cricket_control.html . However, some of this information re temperature and moisture may conflict with the conditions in a vegetable garden. We should probably wait until most of the growing season is over as we do have a small number of vegetables that we have planted in pots and containers with the drainage holes stuffed with plastic netting!! We do continue to dig around the plants and find mole crickets near the drainage holes where roots have come through the netting.

We are already seeing egg pockets and nymphs as seen below. What a discouraging situation, but your lead and push has given us hope for next year.

I'm glad you were able to track down a potential source for the nematodes. As far as the pyrethrins, it's really a personal choice whether you want to use them or not, I wasn't trying to tell you not to use them, just to point out that the natural pyrethrins aren't really any better than the synthetic ones. Even though they'll advertise themselves as being natural and wonderful they still aren't selective and will kill good bugs along with bad just like the synthetic ones would.

Wouldn't diatomaceous earth get them at the larval stage? You can get it at any feed store.

brigidlily - Haven't tried that but Mole Crickets are not like slugs. They have very hard shells. We have added a lot of PermaTill which was suppsed to stop the voles. It's great for the soil, but does little or nothing for voles and Mole Crickets. The best advice so far seems to be the nematodes, but there are so many different kinds and so many different opinions on when to apply, what time of year in our area etc. that we have not done anything yet. Will probably try some shortly and then maybe once again next year, but if we have a hard winter, they will be less likely to survive this far north.

ecrane3 - Just a follow-up on your suggestion about nematodes. There are so many different kinds and people like to sell what they have so it took us a long time to track down something that might be useful this time of year in this area. Since we had found adults through egg pockets and nymphs, we thought that maybe there was a cycle and a better time to apply the nematodes, but last week we found 5 more adults and were told that adults can live a long time and there may be many cycles at any given time.

At any rate, we were able to purchase some steinernema feltiae and apply it yesterday evening before a rain, which is ideal. We are told that there is no data in this area, but it is a broad spectrum product and was not terribly expensive. As I mentioned above, we found 5 more adults and were keeping them alive to give to someone in this area who wanted to research them. Within a few days they had eaten each other. There were body parts of the others and only two were left. We decided to put them in two different containers with dirt and food, and treat one of the containers with the nematodes and not treat the other. That way maybe we may not have to wait until spring to watch our seedlings dissapear in order to see if it worked in our vegetable garden. If the nematodes work in our improvised lab, I believe that we should see the whole shell and not a bunch of parts.

FYI, the information that comes with the nematodes says it also works on a number of other insects such a peach tree borer, dogwood borers, white grubs, and numerous other insects, but application depends on where you live and time of year.

Guys, this is really interesting. I have something mysterious eating my roses I never see...I'd love your advice on whether this looks like the crickets you discuss...I'm just one state over from you...

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/906271/

Miles

The problem with mole crickets is when they're in the lawn doing damage to the roots of the grass. For your roses, I think there are other more likely pests. Seems like you got some good suggestions in your other thread, those things would be much more likely in my opinion than mole crickets.

yeah, I think I need to do some night hunting like was suggested, see who is eating them.

I just wanted to add a suggestion to this: In the area that I live we have mole crickets really really bad I have to use a chemical product because it is all that is available on this island.
The suggestion is that what ever you use it is best if you use a solution of lemon scented dish soap mixed with water about 24 to 48 hours before you treat the area. It will bring the mole crickets closer to the surface helping the product to kill them faster.
I use a 5 gallon bucket fill it with water and add about 1/2 a cup of lemon scented dish soap. Saturate the area to be treated. When you treat the area look for the holes & trails and put extra treatment around and along the trail. It helped to get rid of the mole crickets faster.