The best insecticides for mole crickets combine active ingredients like bifenthrin, imidacloprid, or indoxacarb. The optimal choice depends on whether you are targeting the egg hatch phase (nymphs) or handling an active adult infestation.
Chemical insecticides containing bifenthrin (such as Amdro Quick Kill or Bifen LP) or trichlorfon (such as Dylox) provide the fastest knockdown and kill mole crickets instantly upon direct contact. These, along with imidacloprid, are the most effective options for targeting adult and nymph stages in your lawn.
Killing moles is generally discouraged because they act as highly beneficial natural caretakers for your yard. By eating destructive garden pests, aerating the soil, and improving drainage, they provide vital ecosystem services. Additionally, lethal methods often fail to solve the problem long term.
Mole crickets and their nymphs can be flushed out of the soil with soapy water. Add around 2 tablespoons of dish soap to a gallon of water. In the early morning or late evening, pour it over a 1-2 square foot area.
Controlling mole crickets is best done using a special insectide as they are very good at smelling many insecticides that control them. Fipronil based insecticides such as Monarch work great, simply apply the insecticide to the affected areas, following product instructions carefully.
Prevent mole crickets by maintaining a dense, healthy lawn, which makes the soil hostile to tunneling. Mow high, limit nighttime lighting during the spring mating season, and use systemic preventative insecticides containing imidacloprid in May or June to target newly hatched nymphs.
Mole crickets emerge from the soil in the spring (March through May) for mating and again in late summer/fall (August through October) when mature adults and nymphs cause the most feeding and tunneling damage to lawns. They are nocturnal and primarily come to the surface at night.
The most damage is caused by large nymphs and adults in the late summer and fall. However, these large insects are very difficult to control due to their sheer size. Thus, the old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” definitely applies to mole cricket control.
To get rid of mole crickets naturally, flush them to the surface with a mixture of 222 tablespoons of lemon-scented dish soap and 222 gallons of water. Once they surface at dusk or dawn, collect them by hand. Then, treat your lawn with organic, plant-based pest solutions like EcoSMART Insect Killer Granules or cold-pressed neem oil.
That depends on your definition of hard, but termites, bedbugs, and cockroaches top the list. In the pest control world, the top most challenging cases are those that involve severe infestations of termites, bed bugs, and cockroaches. Each of these sends shivers down most people's spines, and for good reason.
Baits: Tomcat® Mole Killer and Tomcat® Mole Killer Grubs kill moles by simulating their food source, earthworms and grubs. Moles eat the baited earthworm or grubs and die quickly (within 12-24 hours after ingestion) underground in their tunnels.
We recommend that if you treat moles on your own using any of these methods, that you also stomp down the mole tunnels and hills after a few days to target any new activity and track progress in that way. Will moles go away on their own? No, they need to be treated or removed from your yard.
While some gardeners report that the strong scent of coffee temporarily irritates moles, coffee grounds are largely ineffective at truly getting rid of them. Moles tunnel to hunt for grubs and earthworms. Because grounds do not eliminate these food sources, the moles are highly likely to simply dig around or rebuild elsewhere in your yard.
Treat mole crickets in late June or July. This is when newly hatched nymphs are small, near the surface, and highly vulnerable to insecticides. Treating at this time prevents heavy turf damage later in the summer and fall.
To stop mole crickets from spawning and destroying your lawn, target newly hatched nymphs in early summer or apply preventative insecticides in late spring. Follow up with proper lawn maintenance, such as deep watering and aerating, to make the turf less attractive to egg-laying adults.
Mole crickets are eaten by a variety of natural predators, including insect-eating birds, armadillos, raccoons, skunks, toads, and snakes. Beneficial nematodes and Larra bicolor wasps (parasitic wasps) also target and kill them.
To effectively kill mole crickets in your yard, apply targeted insecticides like bifenthrin, imidacloprid, or carbaryl. The most effective approach is to apply granular or liquid insecticides late in the day just before they become active, and always follow up with a light watering to push the treatment into the soil.
After mating, a period of 1–2 weeks may occur before the female starts laying eggs. She burrows into the soil to a depth of 30 cm (12 in), (72 cm (28 in) has been seen in the laboratory), and lays a clutch of 25 to 60 eggs.
Atexzo® insecticide/miticide is a powerful option for control of mole crickets and other important pests of southern turfgrass including billbugs, bermudagrass mites, sod webworms and armyworms. No other product controls this range of insects.
Mole Cricket Life Cycle
In the spring, adults deposit their eggs deep in damp soil. Those eggs hatch into nymphs, which are tiny, wingless replicas of the adults, by early summer. The actual chaos occurs during this nymphal stage. All summer and into early fall, they're growing, hungry, and feeding nonstop.
Mole cricket tunneling and feeding damage looks like ugly brown patches of dying or dead grass, which are typically replaced by weeds. Predators such as raccoons, armadillos, and birds may further dig up the turf to snack on the crickets, which creates even more of a mess.
Adults lay eggs in underground cells in the spring. The eggs hatch in two to four weeks, depending on the weather. Nymphs feed and grow through the summer and mature into adults in the late fall or winter. Mole crickets spend the winter deep in the soil, but come to the surface to feed during warm periods.
The fastest and most effective way to eliminate moles in your garden is by using specialized mole baits (like earthworm-shaped poisons) or setting mechanical traps in active tunnels. To stop them permanently, you must also eliminate their primary food source, which is usually lawn grubs.
Pest control experts universally consider bed bugs to be the absolute hardest bugs to get rid of. Because they reproduce quickly, are resistant to many standard pesticides, and can hide in microscopic crevices, eradicating them usually requires multi-stage professional heat treatments.