Ruud Kleinpaste: Noisy and damage causing insects in the garden

Cicadas are slowly on the wane towards the end of March. It’s been a pretty Noisy March so far, typical of the regular system whereby Cicadas have a three, five, or seven year life cycle.  Black field crickets (Teleogryllus commodus) are still making a heck of a noise in the late afternoon/evening, especially in the North Island and top of the South. They’ll be enjoying that dodgy boy-girl party for at least another month or more! Black field crickets make their characteristic noise by rubbing their wings together (great mating calls).  You won’t see them often, as they hide in cracks in the soil during the day, but when the sun goes down the crickets will come to the surface to eat grasses – they can do a lot of damage to pasture and lawns, leaving bare soil around their home cracks.  Control is quite hard. In the old days, farmers used wheat, soaked in Maldison, strewn over the paddock in early summer (January is the month before crickets become adults and hence, reproduce). For a lawn it might be a nice idea to pour water with a good dash of dish-washing liquid down the holes of these insects in the middle of a hot day. The crickets emerge in the noon-day sun (because the soapy water stings their eyes, I reckon) and the sun will heat the black bodies up real quick (Natue’s Micro-wave oven!).  Another “singer” in autumn is the Katydid (Caedicia simplex); mostly in the afternoon and early evening.  It creates a rather unique noise by rubbing the edges of its stiff forewings together, like a fingernail on a comb. The noise has the quality produced by a ventriloquist – the insect “throws its voice” so you can never be sure where it is calling from.  Katydids feed on garden plants, especially flowers, and they truly seem to like the roses and Dahlias that flower in autumn! They are well-camouflaged on green plants, so birds, frogs, and lizards can find it tricky to locate them.  Gardeners who feel they’re being “attacked” by these insects often ask if there’s a way to “get them” with some insecticide… “Only when you’re very good at ventriloquism” is my answer – I love them!!  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.