During late summer crickets begin to be a problem in the home. When they reach their mature size and the weather begins to cool, the crickets will do their best to get into your home.

Over wintering cricket eggs hatch in late spring and develop into dark brown to black adults by the latter part of July. Mating, feeding and egg laying occurs thereafter and continues until cold weather kills the adults. Luckily, we have only one generation per year in our area.

Crickets may crawl into your home through cracks, spaces around window sills and up under the crack between the siding and foundation. Once inside your home, they will irritate you by chirping all night as well as eating holes in clothes and furnishings. They may also get into stored foods, fruit and tubers.

The key to controlling crickets is to stop them outside before they get a chance to get into your home. A boundary spray of Tempo, Diazinon or Sevin around the foundation of your home will greatly reduce the number of crickets getting into the home.  The active ingredient in Tempo is also available in Bayer Advanced Garden Multi-Insect Killer. Apply the spray to the exposed concrete of the foundation above ground, paying particular attention to areas around window wells and other places where crickets may gain entry into your home.  Repeat the boundary spray every 10-14 days until we receive the first killing frost. These sprays should only be used outside the home, since they aren't registered for inside use.  Spraying inside the home should be done with any of the several registered household aerosol sprays.

This page was last updated April 2003

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