The soapy water is used only for sampling the population in a small location...for scouting purposes. It's not recommended that the whole garden be drenched. I suggest that brownthumb use this technique to see if there is a high population in the lawn as well as the garden. No sense in investing in control measures if there's only a handful of these critters. brownthumb, you might be interested in investigating biological control. There is a fungus that controls mole crickets...Beauveria bassiana. Also, beneficial parasitic nematodes can be used on these insects. Call your local extension office to find out what kind of mole cricket you are likely to have (Southern or Tawny), to determine which nematode species would be effecive. It will be one of the Steinernema species. Be aware that there are predatory insects that will exist happily in a garden area, such as certain beetles, wasps, and others. A chemical free area encourages those beneficials. Birds can be helpful, too. I've watched robins hopping around, obviously listening carefully to the soil. If there are mole crickets there, the birds can find them.

in my experience .. where you have possum.. you have raccoons.. skunks.. groundhogs .. and rabbits ... and it would be near impossible to figure out which are the culprit ... safe to say.. the possum appears to be the stupidest in regard to walking into traps ... they always seem to be the first thing caught ... and in the trap.. they are one of the most pissed off.. it has nothing to do with the babes.. they just need some anger management counseling ... [maybe they are angry about how stupid they are.. lol] .... cantalope is a great dessert. and fantastic attractant in traps.. due to its wafting order ... its probably time.. to fence in moms garden.. with some hardware cloth ... disney has warped a couple generations of us all .. these are vermin.. varmints.. they carry disease ... destroy property ... and they are generally a nuisance .. do not start worrying about all that touchy feely stuff.. if you REALLY WANT TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM ... you might want to talk with your local pest control guy ... if this is really important ... my guy is in he book under TRAPPER BOB ... lol .. ken

mboston, I am very sad to hear your dil lost the baby. Personally, I don't believe the chemicals won't hurt pregnant women or their babies, and it would have infuriated me to hear the guy say such an inane thing. I'm not blaming the chemicals for the miscarriage, but I know they are very toxic. When I was pregnant with my second son and dh and I were renting an apartment near Fort Benning, not far from Florida (he was in the military then), renters who had filthy living habits moved in above our apartment. They moved out a few months later without giving any notice and were gone a few weeks before the landlord realized it. In that period of time, their apartment became a roach haven - it was horrible. And of course when that apartment became empty, the roaches all came to live with us - YUCK! I spent many evenings spraying and swatting them, then I began to feel sickly, was having problems breathing, was having nightmares about them, so I had to quit. At my next OB visit, the doctor told me NOT to be anywhere near any roach-killing chemicals. The landlord ended up calling a professional exterminator (yes, he should have done that right away) and also put us up in another apartment until the roaches were gone. I think my doctor's written statement motivated him to do that, as I was still in my first trimester. It seems the seller should bear some (the lion's share, actually) of the responsibility in this case. I would check into your local laws to see what can be done. You've already received great advice about how to kill the roaches. I do hope this is resolved quickly.

I'm sorry but I just can't support the use of a commercial compressor for this endeavor. I have a quality compressor system in my garage with an in-line filter for trapping water "vapor" and I depressurize the tank after every use through the bottom drain resulting in water discharge. I still get minimum water vapor involvement in my tools. This phenomena is one of the reasons that air tools require regular oiling. Personally, I also do not think a coffee filter would be sufficient. If water vapor can penetrate a concrete foundation block a filter is not going to stop it. Plus, correct me if I am wrong when we brew coffee doesn't the brew water come through the filter? I do like the idea of a foot or hand pump. DA