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| LIFE CYCLE: Spend most of
their lives underground. When soil warms in the spring and nighttime
temperatures reach 60 F (15 C), tunneling anf feeding increase.
Eggs are laid in chambers 4-12 inches (10-30 cm) below the surface.
Parents die off after mating and egg-laying. Eggs take about
3 weeks to develop nymphs, which tunnel to the surface and feed
in the upper soil and litter. Feed and burrow at night, just
below the soil surface. FEEDING SYMPTOMS: Root feeder. Uproots the plants, causing roots to dry out. |
MANAGEMENT: chemical control
is best during mid-summer when crickets and nymphs are small. Chemical control: imidacloprid (MERIT) applied at the beginning of egg hatch, subsurface application of fipronil (CHIPCO CHOICE). Apply late in afternoon to dry turf. Broadcast: chlorpyrifos (DURSBAN), ethoprop (MOCAP), lambdacyhalothrin (SCIMITAR), bifenthrin (TALSTAR). Biological control: parasitic wasp—Larra bicolor parasitic nematodes—Steinernema and Heterorhabditis |