Answer
Aug 17, 2023 - 07:56 AM
Mole crickets start life as eggs, pass through several immature, nymph stages, and then become adults.
Understanding this process helps give you the upper hand. One generation generally occurs per year, but lawns in the Deep South can see two. Mole crickets overwinter in the soil as large, final-stage nymphs or adults, then emerge and mate when spring soil warms. Males die shortly after mating. Females dig up to 10 inches deep in moist soil and lay 100 to 150 eggs before they die.
Depending on soil temps and soil moisture, eggs hatch in 10 to 40 days, with three weeks most common. By late spring and early summer, damage has started. With each molting stage, nymphs become larger, more destructive, and more resistant to control. Warm-season grasses, such as Bermuda grass and Bahiagrass, are favorite targets. Because mole cricket nymphs strike during these grasses' peak growth, their damage often stays hidden until it's too late.
So the answer is early spring before they get a chance to mature. Killing them in the immature stages is the best method of control.
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