How to Kill Crickets with Pesticides

Get rid of crickets with pesticides.

Crickets herald the myriad sounds of summer with their late-night singing. Crickets are generally not a nuisance insect. But occasionally, when their natural predators are absent or few, their numbers can get quite large. For frustrated homeowners, pesticides offer a quick, reassuring fix for the invasion. As a homeowner, you may want to kill crickets that find their way indoors because crickets can chew and destroy some fabrics and paper. You may want to control the outdoor population of crickets if they begin to excessively feed on the plants around your home.

Things You'll Need

• Pesticide

Instructions

1. Wait until after 10 p.m. to apply the pesticides. According to horticulturalist Lucy Bradley and entomologist Roberta Gibson of Arizona State University, this is the best time of day to apply residual sprays to kill crickets entering your home. They note best time of year to control crickets with pesticides is in early summer, when crickets are small.

2. Spray your home with a residual pesticide labeled for use on crickets. Apply the spray to the perimeter of your home's foundation in a 1-foot-wide band on the ground and a 1-foot-wide band on the wall. Spray the baseboards all around the inside of the exterior walls of your home.

3. Apply the spray to any small, dark hiding places around the perimeter of the interior or exterior of your home. Concentrate on areas where you have seen cricket activity.

4. Remove any dead crickets that you find and discard them. The decomposing crickets may attract other insect predators and invite a secondary infestation in and around your home.

Tips & Warnings

• To effect more complete control over the crickets in your area, employ a few other precautionary methods. Caulk and seal all cracks and crevices or other possible entry points to your home.

• Remove any trash piles, wood piles or large stands of weeds near your home (especially those within 6 feet of your foundation). Crickets hide and breed in dark, shaded spots.

• Turn off the lights. Crickets are attracted to porch lights and interior lights that shine at night.

• According to entomologists Jeffrey Hahn and Mark Ascerno of the University of Minnesota Extension, the above control measures are more effective at killing crickets than pesticides alone. They encourage pesticide use only when cricket infestations are severe.

References

• The University of Arizona; Cricket Management; Lucy Bradley, Roberta Gibson; April 1998
• University of Minnesota Extension; Crickets; Jeffrey Hahn, Mark Ascerno; 2008