What are the ways to combat mole-cricket? Does the mole-cricket fly? Ways to effectively clean mole-cricket. mole-cricket is a harmful insect that lives under the ground, its given name in Latin is Gryllotalpa Gryllotalpa .The food source of these harmful insects, which have an average of 3 – 5 centimeters of size, is the parts of the plants that are under the ground.
Properties
These harmful insects, which have a light or dark brown color, have velvety hairs. The lower part of the body has a yellowish color. They have small eyes and short antennae, these insects have short and flat legs on the front which help them for digging the soil.
Where they live?
mole-cricket, which is a species mostly found in Southeastern Anatolia and Eastern Anatolia in our country, can be seen almost everywhere in our country. mole-cricket, which generally live at a depth 10 to 20 centimeters in the soil, they also get out from the soil on very cloudy days or at nights. This type of clay, which prefers to live in lighter soils, is more common in soils with abundant humus or sand.
Reproductive shapes
Females of this species, which generally have a spawning capacity of every 2 years, lay their eggs under the ground chamber at the beginning of summer (May / June) after mating. The nymphs (immature form) hatched in the between 10 or 20 days, continue their development throughout the summer season. The mole-cricket, which spends the 2nd and 3rd periods of winter as a nymph, continues its feeding and development processes with the arrival of spring months. After spending the 5th and last nymph’s periods, they reach adulthood between July and August and spend their second winters in an adult way. They go back to spawning period like May / June. In this cycle, they continue reproduction every two years. Their lifetimes is very short.
Damages they give
Gryllotalpa Gryllotalpa, mole-cricket insects are very harmful for many ornamental plants, especially vegetables. mole-crickets are much more harmful for young plants which is trying to develop, they are damage the root of the plant, causing it to dry and die. While they are moving under the ground, they gnaw and damage all plant structures such as seeds, plant roots or tuber.
Plants that they do most damage.
While they are moving under the ground, mostly, they gnaw and cut off the root parts of the vegetables that are germinating or newly planted. As a result of this situation, vegetable seedlings cannot be fed from the soil then they will dry and then die over time. The mole-cricket, which is also extremely harmful for lumpy vegetables (ginger, garlic, carrot, celery, potato, radish, sugar beet, turnip, onion, Jerusalem artichoke, etc.) causes these vegetables to become unusable.
Apart from these plants mole-cricket may harm other plants too, especially forest saplings, cotton, fruit, ornamental plants, tobacco, corn, paddy, sunflower and wheat.
Struggle Methods
Fighting mole-cricket, which is especially harmful to farmers, is not as difficult as it seems. It will be very easy to get rid of this pest type with a few simple steps. Good and timely processing of the soil that will grow plants or vegetables is the beginning of these methods. Well processed soil is very effective in destroying the natural habitats, eggs and nymphs of these harmful insects. At the same time, these insects, which emerge from under well-cultivated soil to the soil surface, will also be disappear because of the heat and by their real enemies. Some poultry and birds also feed with these harmful insects. Another struggle can be with mole-crickets is to use fertilizer soil, because they don’t like fertilizer soil. Farm manure (unburned) that will be placed correctly at the end of summer in fields, gardens or greenhouses phrases will be collected here and it will be an effective method for killing adult mole-cricket and insects. If the area to be protected is small, the soil should be wetting as much as possible. In this way, mole-cricket insects that will stay under the water will die.
Agricultural Struggle
Another method of struggle that will be effective will be spraying method. If you are not familiar with the drugs to be used, how they are used and the amount of use, it is useful to get help from the nearest agriculture directorate. The poison recommended in the agricultural fight is mixed dry with dandruff. Then it is mixed with water, in which sugar is mixed. Dandruff is moistened until it becomes a spongy structure. The poisonous mixture prepared in this way should be sprinkled on the plant bottoms, especially after garden irrigation in the evening. Another mixture to be prepared is bran, sugar and molasses. If the mixture to be prepared is poured near the damaged parts of the plants and sprinkled towards the roots, they will be effective in the fight against harmful insects.
