If you notice gnawed stems from seedlings, eaten leaves, then you have got crickets in the garden. How to get rid of them, we will consider in detail. Around the beginning of April, at the dacha, as soon as evening arrives, trills “night musicians” start - crickets. The chirping of crickets is directly associated with the summer, but all the romance ends there, since in addition to “chants” they cause significant damage to garden plantings. These insects have a good appetite, enjoy eating all vegetable, cereal crops.
Black cricket close-up photo:
Crickets, for techs who are not familiar with them, look like black grasshoppers in the garden, jumping just as briskly. Crickets in the garden, what harm do they bring? These insects are omnivorous; they inflict the same damage on strawberry bushes as on potatoes, corn, legumes, and other plants. Spraying the garden with chemical preparations is not always advisable, since berries or vegetables will subsequently be eaten. If you follow certain rules, you can still use chemicals, but today they have a decent bio-alternative.
What do crickets eat in the garden? The answer is everyone! In addition to the plant diet, these insects do not disdain relatives, their larvae, worms, and dead animals. Even their own egg clutches, as well as young representatives of their species, can become a “dinner” for adult insects.
The adult reaches a length of 1.5-2 cm, has a black body color. Black cricket (field) is the most common species from the family of crickets.
Field cricket:
Pest Control: Preparations and Methods
To protect gardens from this insect, complex measures are practiced - agricultural and chemical. Loosening of the soil, its thorough digging in the fall slightly reduces the number of pests.
Also, to reduce the number of insects, the site is treated with Nemabact or Anthem-F preparations. These are biological products, they are considered safe for humans, pets, birds, plants. These funds give a good result and are very effective.
The test results showed that after 4 days after treatment 78% of crickets die, and after 30 days - 100%. Before fighting crickets in the garden, the drug is diluted with warm water 1: 100, in terms of temperature, it should be similar to the soil on the site. Directly irrigate the soil, preferably in the rain, in the late afternoon. The container with the composition must be shaken periodically, and after processing, additionally water the entire area (to facilitate the penetration of the drug deep into the soil). These drugs can be sprayed on the ground even during the growing season of plants.
I have not seen these drugs on open sale, but they can be ordered in online stores, which, in addition to Nemabakt or Anthem-F preparations, offer Protection soil containing a predatory nematode that successfully fights soil pests, including crickets.
If you opt for chemicals, then carefully read the instructions before poisoning the pests in the garden. It is always necessary to maintain the required period so that the drug completely “leaves” the plant before eating the fruit. For such purposes, the most commonly used "Karbofos" (8-10 ml per 10 liters of water) or "Decis" (3 ml per 10 liters of water).
Other anti-cricket techniques
Birds are our unselfish helpers in the fight against crickets. To attract their attention, install birdhouses and all kinds of feeders on the site. Tits and starlings are the most active fighters. As practice has shown, birds perfectly cope with the "task", the main thing - do not forget to regularly replenish the feeders so that they feel at home on the site.
If you have snakes at your dacha, this is very good for you and bad for crickets. The fight against black crickets in the garden will become even more productive if the snakes help the birds.
Hedgehogs will also help you cope with crickets - this is their favorite treat.
When you harvest, make sure that between the beds there are no unnecessary objects, the remains of building materials, covering films and other things. During the autumn digging up of the garden, leave it clean, remove everything superfluous - crickets love to winter in wooden fragments and under layers of film.
Good results show insect box baits (helium, granular), for example, Delicia. They can be decomposed between the beds, as well as in places of accumulation of pests.
Folk remedies for crickets
If you are haunted by crickets in the garden, folk remedies can also help.
Wormwood is good against these pests in the form of a strong decoction for cultivating the soil, as well as simply spread between beds and plants. To do this, take a metal bucket, densely packed with wormwood, fill it with water, put on fire. You need to wait until the water boils, remove the bucket from the fire, dilute the resulting broth with water 1 to 4. The resulting liquid needs to be treated all the soil in the area, especially where there are mink crickets.
After a couple of days, we loosen the soil and cultivate the soil again - this method is not a panacea, but harmless, significantly reduces the number of pests. The larvae of these insects also die from wormwood.
Sprinkling the soil near the stem with red hot pepper powder repels the pest. Sometimes pepper is mixed with tobacco dust (sold for gardeners) and cultivated between the beds. For these purposes, neutralized poultry manure also helps.
Oddly enough, a plastic film can become an additional technique, it is especially good to use it in spring or in cool weather. Crickets are thermophilic insects, if you put the crumpled pieces of film in the area, then with nightfall they will climb inside the folds. In the morning you can start the “hunt”, the main thing is to show dexterity, as crickets are jumping and afraid of bright lighting.
If you talk with summer residents on this topic, you can find out many different ways of how to get crickets out of the garden.
For example, draft beer, poured on the bottom of a three-liter can (about a quarter of the capacity), is an effective bait for insects. For this, the bottle is instilled at the very neck. Attracted by the bread smell of beer, pests fall into a trap and drown.
At first, pests can be exterminated mechanically, however, keep in mind that they are prolific and actively multiply with the onset of warm weather.
If you have crickets in your garden, how to get rid of them you have already decided and even purchased chemicals, remember that the frequency of irrigation is a maximum of 2 times! From the moment of the last processing at least 30 days should pass, only then you can start harvesting.