Dirt mounds in the soil raise questions for homeowners

As you drive around the Oklahoma City Metro you may have noticed a large number of small mounds in grassy areas. Perhaps, you have them in your own yard. This year, at my house, I even have them in my flower beds. What you are observing is the work of the short-tailed cricket. The mounds can be differentiated from ant hills in that with ant hills the soil will be very granular (like sugar), whereas the cricket mounds will be much coarser.

These crickets are similar to field crickets except for the short ovipositor from which they get the name short-tailed. They are light brown in color with a body length of about 3/4 of an inch. They shed their hindwings soon after becoming adults and never fly. Do not confuse these crickets with the brown field cricket. The brown field cricket is the home-invading nuisance that enjoys filling the night with its songs and your well-lit front porch with its friends.

Short-tailed crickets overwinter as nymphs in burrows in the soil. The nymphs are best described as teenagers moving away from home for the first time. They have spent the summer in their parents' burrow, and are now ready to start their first home. The nymphs construct burrows of their own. At first the burrows are small, but as the crickets mature the burrows are enlarged and may reach depths of 12 to 20 inches.

Burrows constructed by the crickets result in unsightly 2 to 3 inch mounds of small soil pellets which may smother the surrounding grass. This will usually affect only cool season grasses. Activity will continue through October and, in some years, through most of November. The burrows are rebuilt each time they are washed away by fall rains.

Damage to the turf is negligible. The real concern is one of aesthetic origins. We work hard for that pristine lawn all summer and the crickets come to litter it with their mounds. A positive benefit that comes from these pests is the cheap aerating of the lawn that they provide. However, if you cannot tolerate the mounds on your lawn, products labeled for grub control will do a satisfactory job in controlling them.

Date: 9/15/08

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