Mole crickets in the garden: how to get rid of them using folk remedies

In this article, we'll look at detailed and proven methods for controlling mole crickets in your garden using folk remedies. Of course, you can always buy chemical pesticides at the store to get rid of this insect. However, these are unsafe to use, while folk remedies are usually simple, accessible, and safe.

Mole cricket The mole cricket is a fairly large insect that feeds not only on plants but even on small animals. It prefers moist, humus-rich soil. Therefore, it is common among agricultural crops and can cause significant damage to harvests. If the pest appears in your garden, you need to take measures to control it.

Fence yourself off

Mole crickets often invade a property from neighboring properties. Therefore, you can install hardwood sheets around the perimeter, digging them in to a depth of 60 cm. The height above the soil surface should be the same. If you don't have time to bury the sheets, you can dig a trench 50 cm deep and fill it with broken glass, brick, or crushed stone.

Beer

Now let's move on to folk remedies for getting rid of mole crickets in the garden, which involve clever traps. For example, a trap can be made using regular beer, poured into a small jar. Bury the jar in the ground up to the neck. The smell of the beer will attract the insects, and once they're swimming in the beer, it's easy to get rid of them, as the mole cricket won't be able to escape.

Kerosene

For ten liters of water, 100 ml of kerosene is sufficient. In the evening, pour one and a half tablespoons of the mixture into each known mole cricket burrow. Alternatively, you can pour a tablespoon of kerosene into a bucket of sand, mix everything together, and then scatter the sand along the paths between the garden beds. A greater effect can be achieved by combining these two methods.

Honey

Another trap involves coating a jar with honey and then burying it in the ground up to the neck, just like the beer can. The honey will attract the insect, and its sticky properties will keep it trapped.

Horse manure

This method is suitable for autumn. In areas where mole crickets were most common in the summer, dig small holes and fill them with manure. Then cover each hole with soil. The mole cricket will inevitably choose the manure as the best and warmest place to overwinter. When cold weather arrives, dig up the holes and spread the manure over the ground. The mole cricket will die from the cold and simply won't survive until the next spring.

Water and soap

A simple and effective method requires 10 grams of laundry soap (or 50 grams of washing powder). Dilute the solution in a bucket of water. Pour 0.5 liters of the solution into each hole the mole cricket burrows. After a couple of minutes, the insect will emerge or die underground. Also read about methods. How to get rid of ants in your garden.

Wet rags

If you need to protect tomatoes or peppers from mole crickets, use this method. Wrap the plant stems with a damp, thin cloth, both above and below ground. Soak the cloths in a simple soap solution first—now mole crickets will definitely avoid your plants.

Fish head

This remedy shouldn't be overused, but once a season, you can bury raw fish heads around the perimeter of the plot. Bury to a depth of up to 30 cm.

Pure mechanics

To prevent mole crickets from becoming active in your yard, you can begin controlling their larvae as early as late spring. Late May and early June are when they begin actively laying eggs. The soil should be dug over, as open air is an enemy of these insects' larvae.

These are the options, How to deal with mole crickets in the garden Folk remedies can be safely used in your garden. All folk methods are tried and tested, but they have varying effectiveness in different situations. Therefore, to understand which remedy is best for a specific situation and plot, you'll need to try everything yourself.