Crickets invasion begins in Spring Creek (2024)

SPRING CREEK — Spring Creek Association is fighting crickets with a surprising household item during this year’s invasion.

SCA has discovered that using Dawn liquid dish soap is a pesticide-free and effective method to prevent the march of crickets into residential areas.

According to Jessie Bahr, president and general manager, crews found that using one cup of extra-strength liquid dish soap to a gallon of water will stop crickets in their tracks.

However, don’t forget to clean them up, she said.

But why do they need to be cleaned up? Who would want to touch them?

Unfortunately, it’s necessary to prevent more crickets from arriving on the scene to feed off the remains.

Armored katydids — the biological name of the so-called Mormon crickets — are known to be cannibals, said Elko County Assistant Manager and Natural Resources Director Curtis Moore.

The pests are attracted to the carcasses of their dead friends. Whatever kills the crickets may attract more toward that area, he said.

A couple of weeks ago, cricket eggs began to hatch, moving along Lamoille Highway and into Spring Creek at Lamoille Highway and Spring Valley Parkway.

When eggs hatch, there’s no way to tell what direction they will head, Moore said.

“We don’t know where they hatch or which way they will go.”

Elko County began the fight this month, spreading bait at county right-of-ways. Crews have applied pesticides on Powder House Road, Last Chance Road, Hamilton Stage Road, and Hog Tommy Road.

They will not spread bait at homes and private properties.

“We’re staying on top of it and trying to keep an eye on it,” he said.

The county is also coordinating its efforts with Spring Creek, the City of Elko and agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.

The Nevada Department of Agriculture has also spread bait at Kittridge Canyon, Adobe Range and other public lands.

Moore said the county had $15,000 to use in its fight against the crickets. The Nevada Department of Agriculture is providing the bait.

In Spring Creek, the association announced on Monday that county crews spread cricket bait at tract boundaries, including Lower Lamoille Road near Marina Hills Tract 100, Holiday Drive and Tower Road near Vista Grande Tract 200.

The goal is “to help get crickets away from home areas in hopes to lessen the number of crickets that come” near homes and properties, the SCA stated in a email to residents.

Elko County cannot enter private property to spread bait and has avoided applying the pesticides closer to homes due to “chemical dangers to animals and birds.”

Because of this, Bahr said the SCA began investigating other non-chemical cricket deterrents, including using extra-strength dish soap and plastic fencing to prevent crickets from entering the Spring Creek Marina.

Homeowners can contact area pest control companies and purchase bait at local hardware and garden supply stores; however, the association cautions those who choose to battle the crickets on their own to be aware of the risks and clean up dead crickets after spreading bait.

According to the SCA, residents may call Battleborn Pest Control, Stampede Pest Control, Progressive Pest Management or Ruby Mountain Pest Control.

Bait is also sold at IFA, Boss Tanks, Ace Hardware and the Home Depot.

“SCA would like to remind residents that if you try to bait crickets, be careful where you place the bait as this is where the crickets will go.”

Last summer’s invasion

Mormon crickets have been an ongoing problem for Elko County residents over the years.

In April, State Entomologist Jeff Knight said the unpredictability of the crickets’ movements did not allow officials to estimate how many may hatch this spring, but said that there seemed to be a “downward trend” over the years in northern Nevada.

Observing that crickets move “up to a mile per day,” Knight told the Elko Daily Free Press in June that female crickets live until they mate and lay eggs before dying off in August.

Last summer, Carlin, Elko and Spring Creek were hit with crickets. The Northern Nevada Regional Hospital seemed to get the worst of it with the walls of the hospital.