Its name may suggest otherwise, but the cricket is not a mole. The monstrous grasshopper-like insect is currently infesting allotment gardeners throughout the Amstelland region. “However you do your best, you won’t get rid of it,” says Fons Bongers of the KNNV (association for field biology).
One after the other knocks with a bucket full of crickets at the garden shed of accomplished horticulturist Rob Koolbergen (84). He has had an allotment garden at Tuinvereniging Nesserlaan in Amstelveen for over thirty years and is one of the co-founders of the association. Six years ago, he became acquainted with a striking creature. “How special”, they thought at the association.
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Horticulturist Rob Koolbergen fights against the presence of the cricket – NH Nieuws
plague
“If only we hadn’t said we liked it, because now we have the baked pears. They have spread all over the garden and damage the young plants,” says Rob with a sigh. It is now a plague among allotment gardeners throughout the region, according to a tour of NH Nieuws.
Even so, Rob’s fascination for the creature has not disappeared, as it turns out when he takes out a bucket of freshly caught crickets. Enthusiastically, Rob pulls out a copy of about six centimeters long. He holds the creature between two fingers, while explaining where the name comes from. “Those front legs, which he digs with, resemble the legs of a mole.”
“They look like transformers with their armored bodies”
“They are impressive claws,” says biologist Fons. “They’re a bit like transformers with their armored bodies,” he laughs. Fons also has a love-hate relationship with the cricket. As a biologist, he thinks the animal is beautiful, but his own allotment garden in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel is full of them. “They do a lot of damage to that,” he sighs.
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In the wild, the animal is scarce, Fons knows. That is also the reason that it has been on the red list of endangered species for a number of years. Meanwhile, the cricket, which originally lived in a mixture of sand and peat, has discovered its salvation: the allotment garden. Here the animal can literally go for its agv (potato, vegetables and meat). He picks up succulent insects from the soil, takes a bite of the potatoes and feasts on the roots of young lettuce plants.
The cricket hardly has to worry about natural enemies. The regular mole thinks it’s a tasty snack, but of course you don’t want that in your allotment either. The use of pesticides is not allowed in allotments, but a natural pesticide against pests is the release of nematodes. These are worms that ‘blow up’ the insect from the inside when it eats them.
chicken feed
The tunnels that crickets dig are right under the earth. This way the smart animal can go through all the plants nicely. This is also the key to success in catching the insect. “You put down a plank or stone and dig in a bucket or ice cream cup under it,” explains Rob. “That’s where they fall in.” And so the horticulturist has already caught hundreds of crickets this year.
Fons also uses this technique. “And then I throw them over the ditch and hope they make it there.” Rob uses a less friendly method to get rid of the critters, he says. And then it becomes clear why everyone comes to drop off his bucket with him. “I hardly dare to say it, but I give them to the chickens. They love them.”