How to protect against crickets?

They also do worms and ant larvae but I wasn’t that adventurous.

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The problem with crickets is the sticky protein called chitin which is terrible for humans

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I wouldn’t eat them by the bushel but a few is okay

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There are no stalks left to get a picture off. Crickets are omnivores I cleared my house of bugs after finding a couple very big brown recluse spiders. This is the second black cricket I have found in my grow area. The other one was hiding on my shelf at the back of the grow area.

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It just can’t be crickets. Never in 32 years Outdoors have I had a cricket bother a plant

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Crickets, grasshoppers, locusts… Whatever those things are… Yeah, they eat plants. They’ll devour them. It’s one of the 7 plagues!!

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I’ve got two grasshoppers in my flowering tent. They were little green ones when I put them in. Now they’re big tan ones. They must be eating, but I can’t find the proof.

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That’s what I thought too.

https://ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/lettuce/field-crickets/#gsc.tab=0
https://www.quikkill.com/blog/2023/july/what-the-streator-pest-professionals-want-you-to/

That does not rule out cutworms.

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I’ve usually got a population of fungus gnats along with roly polies, etc., and to keep them from eating my seeds I put seeds in Root Riot pods or similar and the fungus gnats can’t get to them. I don’t know whether that will protect against cutworms or not, but it’s there for you to try…

This is in my basement where there is no other source of water but my plants. The only thing I have found the last two weeks are mosquitoes and two black crickets. Today I moved everything in the basement and used a shop vac to clean all the corners and cracks. I found nothing not even webs or lent. I did this same thing not long ago when I went hand to hand with the giant brown recluse.

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That’s pretty convincing. They say the exact same thing about fungus gnats. It’s getting past the seedling stage that’s key. :key:

I have been using crickets for fishbait since I was a little child fishing with my dad. We always kept lettuce and potato slices in the cricket cage to keep them from eating each other.

I am going to get more window mesh screen to block the ports.

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Thanks for posting that. I had no idea they were such diverse feeders. Even aphids - that’s so crazy to think of. :rofl:

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This will be a new one for me if true. Anything’s possible i guess, but we have so many crickets here and never an issue. Maybe like you suggested they were in dire need of water. I guess that can’t be ruled entirely out. This summer i have striped cucumber beetles hammering some plants, and they aren’t known to do so either.

Mouse, cutworm or slug/ snail, top 3 predators of small seedlings here in NY. A mouse can hide anywhere. I’d set a trap or two. Have you dumped out all containers in the tent or basement? Slugs hide in the drain holes of pots and sometimes you can’t find them unless you dump out the root ball. They chew a little indentation into the roots at pots edge and that’s where they hide.

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I use fabric pots there are no drain holes for anything to crawl into. I have three pots that Had AK-47(1995) x G13 88/HP that I harvested Sunday. I will go through the roots and soil looking for insects.

I move everthing out and mop every week. I do the same for insiade the tent. I have seen no signs of slugs or snail. Even outside this year I havent seen any slugs or signs of them. That is very unusual as I live at the edge of a swamp. My potted plants would always have that dried slime trail but not this year for some reason.

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Frigging mice. They’re taking bites out of all my zucchini. I’d rather they eat one entire squash and leave the rest alone but rodents are evil and selfish.

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Yup. I had voles eating a bite out of every potato but just a bite. Little potato connasuers. Chpmunks eating a bite from each tomato, just to sample. Red squirrels that chew immature apples to knock them out of a tree and leave them. So wasteful. I wouldn’t mind sharing so much if they ate what they ruin.

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It’s sounding more and more like mice…or crickets. Could a mouse hide somewhere? They can fit in some small cracks. How does a cricket climb a cup🤔…that’s something to think about and i just now thought of it. I was leaning towards crickets for a moment…but have gone back to the mouse idea.
Forgive my intrusion on the matter. I like solving a mystery, and whatever it is could strike again. I have tons of seed. It would be a good experiment to lock crickets in with seedlings and see what happens. Wish i had the gumption😁

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No chance of mice in my basement. I have twenty pound bags of rice, many bags dried beans, peas, rice and lentils laying around the part of the basement my grow area is located. I also have all my seed and meal stock of garden amendments stored in my basement. None of the packages have ever been chewed on.

I am loving the AKBB Lemon Star F2, about day 56 from the start of 10/14.

That happens every year too. It hasn’t happened yet, but the tomatoes won’t start turning for a few more days. Thanks for reminding me! I’m putting out traps. Yosemite Sam style.

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