After last week’s rain, I had small soil mounds appear all over my yard, there were hundreds of them. What are they?
You are referring to mounds made by short-tailed crickets. These crickets over winter, as nymphs, burrowed deep into our soil. In spring, they reach adulthood, lay eggs, the eggs hatch and soon leave their parents then they burrow to construct one of their own. Only one cricket is found per burrow in the late summer through next spring. The mounds are made of small soil pellets and there may be one every few inches in some lawns. These will appear August through October after a rain as the nymph will clean out his burrow of soil that’s washed in. Though unsightly, damage is negligible to none in lawns, so control is normally not warranted. However, if you don’t like the mounds, using a labeled granular insecticide such as one used for white grubs may be used according to directions.
For more information contact the OSU Extension Center, 14001 Acme Road, or call 273-7683
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After last week’s rain, I had small soil mounds appear all over my yard, there were hundreds of them. What are they?
You are referring to mounds made by short-tailed crickets. These crickets over winter, as nymphs, burrowed deep into our soil. In spring, they reach adulthood, lay eggs, the eggs hatch and soon leave their parents then they burrow to construct one of their own. Only one cricket is found per burrow in the late summer through next spring. The mounds are made of small soil pellets and there may be one every few inches in some lawns. These will appear August through October after a rain as the nymph will clean out his burrow of soil that’s washed in. Though unsightly, damage is negligible to none in lawns, so control is normally not warranted. However, if you don’t like the mounds, using a labeled granular insecticide such as one used for white grubs may be used according to directions.
For more information contact the OSU Extension Center, 14001 Acme Road, or call 273-7683
