Crickets set to repeat invasion

This year’s bumper summer swarm of crickets could be set to repeat next year.

Large numbers of black field crickets have been encroaching on homes and gardens across the North Island, keeping residents awake with their chirping and hopping underfoot.

Black field crickets are usually born in November when they generally spend time in the grass.

But by peak summer in January, especially if it’s been a dry period, they move deep into ground cracks and come out only at night.

‘‘This makes sense as if you are black and you are in full sunshine during the day your body acts like a microwave oven and cooks you from the inside,’’ bug expert Rudd Kleinpaste said.

So when the crickets come out at night they then sing because they’ve matured, Kleinpaste said.

The males are also attempting to attract a nice-looking girl, he said, which leads to more eggs being laid and the cycle continuing.

Kleinpaste said that didn’t bode well for next year.

Because if the region had an overwhelming number of crickets now it most likely meant they’d laid a lot of eggs and therefore the cycle would repeat.

He recommended next January, when cracks start appearing in the garden, pour a watering can laced with some detergent down the crack during the middle of the day.

Crickets would then come up to the surface and be dealt with by the sun, he said.

Crickets were introduced to New Zealand and are deemed a pest, especially for farmers.

‘‘They are now really established in Wellington north and are a pest where you need grass for dairy farming like the Waikato, Northland and Auckland.

‘‘If you’ve 10 crickets to the square metre, which isn’t too much, it’s equivalent to having an extra stock unit on your property. That is how much grass they eat. So yes, they are a pest.’’