By Sharon Omahen
University of
Georgia

It’s hard to think of any reason to celebrate over the state’s
drought conditions, but south Georgia
golf course managers have one. Fewer mole crickets.

Mole crickets are small, light brown insects that live in, and
cause extensive damage to, turf.
They are commonly found throughout the southeastern coastal plain
from Texas to North
Carolina. Here in Georgia, they are only found below Macon in
sandy soils of the state’s coastal
plain.

“They like sandy soils so they haven’t moved into the northern
portion of our state,” said Will
Hudson, a University of Georgia entomologist who researches this
and many other of our state’s
insect pests. Hudson’s laboratory is located in the heart of the
coastal plain on the Tifton
campus of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences.

Tunneling Across Fairways

Mole crickets burrow beneath the soil creating tunnels similar
to those made by moles, but much
smaller.

“Their tunnels can cause golf course managers a lot of grief,”
said Hudson. “Even the best golfer
couldn’t make a ball roll straight when mole crickets have
burrowed tunnels across the green.”

The size of tunnels can be used to indicate the age of the
mole cricket population. As the mole
cricket increases in size, so does the tunnel.

In addition to the damage caused by the tunnels, mole crickets
damage turf by feeding on the
plant roots, stems and leaves. But overall, mole cricket feeding
is not considered as damaging on
golf courses as their tunneling.

$20 Million in Annual Damage

It is estimated that mole crickets in commercial, recreational
and residential turf cost
Georgians $20 to $25 million a year in damaged grass and
control expenses, said Hudson.

“Treatments can cost as much as $315 an acre, so just one hole
of a golf course could cost
between $600 and $800 to treat,” he said. “It has been common
for a high-end golf course to
spend $1,000 a hole to control mole crickets and, even at that
price, not get good control. New
products have improved control considerably, but the cost is
still high.”

But over the last several years, Georgia’s drought has
drastically reduced the mole cricket
population.

Mole crickets lay eggs in underground cells in the spring. The
eggs hatch in three to six weeks,
depending on the weather, and the nymphs feed and grow through
the summer, and mature into
adults in the fall.

Immatures Can’t Stand the Heat

“May and June are the months when mole cricket eggs hatch, and
the last few years it has been
so dry and hot that the immature mole crickets haven’t survived
well,” said Hudson. “There are
still plenty of mole crickets around in golf courses and parks
and managed turf areas, but the
drought has definitely reduced their numbers. This is
particularly true in nonirrigated areas like
roadsides, pastures, and fields.”

So if you’re putt veers to the right a little, you can’t blame
the mole crickets. At least not this
year.