field crickets eat nearly anything - includes plant matter, wool, cotton, paper and each other! - they may be nibbling on your plants, but I've never seen reference to them being a specific pest on any variety - they're certainly not what you'd call a beneficial, but I don't think they're normally a real problem, tho "thousands" might be

Bill

I've got a small population in my garden that seem to be doing no harm. A larger number of grasshoppers are causing some damage, though.

The cricket that got into my house the other night chirped incessantly and was anything but beneficial.

Wayne in the Adks.

oh yeah, the fiddling they do sure is annoying, but I was not aware of them eating broccoli. waht will get rid of them?

vstech,

Let us know if you find a good way to get rid of them.

The crickets here in AZ completely devoured my four newly planted bell pepper plants. I would go out after the sun went down only to see a dozen or so crickets per plant. They would strip the new plants in one night. They appear to only nibble on the tomato and zucchini leaves that touch the ground or nearby stakes.

I've sprinkled diatomaceous earth around, and on, my one and only zucchini plant. I've also placed yogurt lids filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and diatomaceous earth in the path of the crickets to the garden. The crickets appear to go for this but I don't know if and when it kills them. They look like cats lapping up milk from a bowl.

Wade

WRT crickets in the house, I understand they like to eat the brown recluse spider, among other things. If true, that's beneficial.

I have never seen anything that would indicate crickets eat any spiders much less the Brown Recluse. Since crickets eat about any vegetable fiber there is the can be pests, this aside from the "song" the produce. Check the link below for good, solid information about them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Crickets at Arizona State

crickets will die in beer - Carrie

And I would die without beer.

Did anyone try the beer for crickets? I have them in my basement (where the computer is) and there are always tons in my garage. They are huge & my kids are scared of them. Not to mention the noise they make.

We had a local car dealership that got invaded with crickets in their walls. They had the building fumigated leaving them with a building with thousands of dead crickets in the walls. A few months later they had to demolish the building because they could not get the dog sh!tty smell out of it.

Are you sure they were crickets & not grasshopper nymphs? Lubber nymphs are black w/ red or yellow markings & often hang out in gangs.....

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