Adoption by Northland farmers of a pest management package to control black field cricket,Teleogryllus commodus(Orthoptera: Gryllidae)

Abstract

The basis for a procedure to control the black field cricket has been developed from research carried out over the last 5 years. This pest management package has been extensively promoted in Northland in the 1983 season with an exceptionally high adoption rate, especially by dairy farmers. More than 950 tonnes of cricket bait was applied over approximately 76 000 ha of pasture in Northland during the summer of 1983. This was 10-fold increase compared with previous dry years when cricket numbers were also high. High cricket numbers, in combination with the simple 'flushing technique' for estimating cricket density, were considered by farmers to be the most compelling reasons for applying cricket bait. The benefits to farmers of controlling the high cricket populations present in 1983 include the maintenance of quality pasture species and increased pasture responses which are estimated to be worth several million dollars in increased animal production. These procedures to control black field crickets should become a standard management practice.

Screening sixteen pasture species for tolerance to attack by black field cricket (Teleogryllus commodus)

“…The black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus (Walker) (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) is a serious pasture pest in Australia and northern regions of New Zealand (Banfield & Cottier 1948;McDonald & Cummins 1976;Blank 1982Blank , 1984. High cricket populations can devastate ryegrass -white clover pasture leaving large areas of bare ground and weeds.…”

Insecticide baits for control of the black field cricket (Teleogryllus commodus)

“…Cricket density was measured using the flushing technique of Blank (1983) and Blank & Bell (1983). A selected cracked area within a 0.25 m?…”

“…The Pesticides Board does not require the maldison baits currently in use to be dyed because of their low avian toxicity. The objectives of the laboratory and field trials reported in this paper were to test alternative insecticides to maldison, the current standard insecticide; to investigate if the addition of a green dye to baits to prevent bird theft had any effect on cricket control; to investigate if higher concentrations of insecticides could reduce the amount of bait used; and to carry out field trials using the baiting strategies recommended to farmers (Blank 1983).…”