I confess, I have attached a slightly different ending to the old adage above and suggested insects tend to appear in June, but for some of our biggest turf adversaries this is indeed true!  So who are the big players that are starting to make their grand entrance?  Let’s start with two coastal Carolina favorites, the tawny and southern mole crickets.  These strange creatures look more like a byproduct of the Fukushima reactor; a crayfish-like giant cricket which causes extensive damage to turf through their tunneling and feeding activities.  Coastal North Carolina is the northern range for these two non-native species accidentally introduced from South America.  Their distribution includes all southeastern coastal states from North Carolina up to and including east Texas. The appearance of these crickets in late spring is attributable to mating flights of adult crickets. During these flights females fly to male crickets that beckon from deep within their calling chamber. Interestingly, the attractiveness of a call is directly related to the soil conditions within the chamber. Most subterranean insect eggs are subject to desiccation and therefore, the better the soil moisture within a calling chamber the “sexier” the call to a female.  Think Barry White or Conway (high soil moisture = we’ve got this) versus Tiny Tim tiptoeing through the tulips (your eggs aren’t surviving here ladies). In their southern range, peak flights occur from March through June depending on species.  Two additional mole crickets also occur here in the states, the native northern mole cricket, which can be found from New England south to Florida and over to the Great Plains and the shortwinged mole cricket which is found in restricted populations throughout Florida. Northern mole crickets usually are found in sandy low-lying spots often surrounding water and are rarely damaging but do tend to throw the northern turf managers for a loop! Ya’ll already have enough to deal with, right? For the past month I’ve received many reports of nuisance tunneling but this is from late nymphal mole crickets(not quite adults yet). Mating flights have yet to begin in our area and reports from areas further south (Auburn University, Dr. Dave Held @held_david) suggest adults are present but egg hatch has yet to begin. I suggest delaying treatments as it can be very difficult to kill nymphal crickets of this size.  Mole crickets, like many insects, demonstrate developmental resistance meaning they become more difficult to kill as they age.  Much like white grubs, control of crickets is best achieved by targeting them as they hatch from the egg.  In North Carolina this usually occurs mid June to mid July but as always we will keep you posted on adult flight timing.

Adult Japanese beetle, May beetle, masked chafer, oriental beetle, and Asiatic garden beetle flights will also kick into action in June.  In fact adults of all the aforementioned species except Japanese beetles have already started showing up in light trap catches.  If you have performed any renovations to the lawn or landscape in the past month you have likely run into large grubs. Not to worry, this time of year most grass species are able to outpace any root pruning grubs that may otherwise harm your lawn under different circumstances (summer drought, fall dormancy). These grubs are also particularly hard if not impossible to kill once they reach this size again due to developmental resistance. Control of these species is best achieved at egg hatch when grubs are youngest. Adult flights indicate mating and peak egg-laying are in your not so distant future.

Japanese beetles are daytime (diurnal) flyers and their presence will be the most obvious.  Adults of other grub species are cryptic (often nocturnal or stay close to emergence sites) and therefore may go undetected.  In North Carolina, Japanese beetle flight often falls smack in the middle of other species’ flight timing and therefore they may be a useful indicator species for appropriate insecticide timing.  As always, the effectiveness of control measures is dependent on proper pest identification, understanding of life cycle, and appropriate timing of treatment. Become familiar with the species that occur in your area, determine how to monitor and decide which stage to target with control treatments.

In the case of mole crickets and white grubs, soil insecticides should provide a sufficient residual window to cover the period of egg hatch to ensure control. These products must be watered in to move through the soil profile and reach immatures as they hatch. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates on pest activity!