Borax As Insecticide for Mole Crickets
When it comes to lawn care and maintenance there's nothing more frustrating than to see a beautifully kept lawn destroyed by turf insects. In many parts of the country, one particularly annoying turf insect is the mole cricket. Mole crickets love to inhabit the subsurface areas of several popular types of grass, including Bermuda grass and bahia grass. There are several measures available to rid a lawn of mole crickets, including mixtures that contain borax (sodium borate). Does this Spark an idea?
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Borax Insecticides
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In addition to its use in the laundry, borax is also recognized for its insecticidal properties. Borax makes for an effective and relatively safe insecticide because of its low toxicity to humans, plants and animals (it's a naturally occurring mineral). Against turf-invading mole crickets, borax is often mixed into a drenching spray mixture that also contains peppermint and special enzyme ingredients. Once borax and other ingredients are mixed together in a water-based solution, a mole cricket-infested lawn is sprayed until it's soaked.
Borax Baits
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Borax also lends itself well to being used as an insecticidal bait. Though the majority of mole crickets will stay just beneath the surface of a lawn, they're attracted to lights. In the evening hours, when mole crickets are most active, a well-lit house may prove an attraction to them. To eliminate mole crickets in a house, mix together an insecticidal bait consisting of borax, honey or sugar and some sort of artificial sweetener. Mole crickets will ingest borax and then die.
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Lawn Flushing
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Surface tunneling is usually evident when there are mole crickets in your lawn. Once you've detected mole crickets in your lawn you'll have to flush them out using liquid dish washing soap at 1 to 1.5 fl. oz. of soap per gallon of water. Apply a dish washing soap and water solution to your lawn at about 1 quart per square foot of lawn and watch for emerging mole crickets. After flushing a lawn of mole crickets it's then treated using a borax solution.
How Borax Works
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Borax itself is a powerful desiccant, or dehydrating agent.The dehydrating properties of borax are what makes it particularly useful as liquid insecticide spray and as part of an insect bait. Any insect that ingests borax will basically die of dehydration and thirst. Once ingested by or sprinkled on an insect, borax begins drawing moisture from the cells within the insect. Borax is also long-lasting and insects exposed to it up to even a month after it's applied are at risk of death.
Considerations
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Borax is the only ingredient in a popular laundry cleaning agent called 20 Mule Team Borax. Though borax is relatively low in toxicity when it comes to humans and pets always wear personal protective equipment when spraying or drenching a lawn with a solution of it. The best time of year to rid a lawn of mole crickets is in the early summer. Natural control methods used specifically against mole crickets include commercially available parasitic nematodes, which are harmless to all other organisms.
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References
Resources
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