Tawny Mole Crickets: Detection and Treatment in Georgia
Mole crickets tunnel through your lawn like underground demolition crews. Learn how to detect them and why early-summer treatment is critical.
Pest profile
What Are Tawny Mole Crickets?
Tawny mole crickets are bizarre-looking insects that tunnel through the soil like tiny moles, shredding grass roots and pushing up soil as they go. They’re one of the most damaging lawn pests in the southeastern U.S. and are well-established in Middle Georgia. The tunneling dries out soil, uproots grass, and creates soft, spongy patches that get worse through the summer.
Identification
How to Identify Tawny Mole Crickets
Brown, cylindrical insects about 1.5 inches long with large, shovel-like front legs built for digging
Velvety body covered in fine hairs
Short antennae and beady eyes on a rounded head
Adults can fly — they’re attracted to lights in spring during mating flights
Distinctive sound: males produce a loud, low-pitched trill at night from their burrows, audible from 20+ feet
Damage signs
How Tawny Mole Crickets Damage Your Lawn
Damage Signs
Raised, finger-width tunnels visible at the soil surface, especially after rain or irrigation
Soft, spongy turf that feels like walking on a mattress
Irregular brown patches where tunneling has severed roots and dried out the soil
Grass seedlings and young sod pulled below the surface or uprooted
Detection Methods
The soapy water flush: mix 2 tablespoons of dish soap in a gallon of water and pour over a 4-square-foot area in the evening. Mole crickets surface within a few minutes.
Walk the lawn in the early morning and feel for soft, spongy areas where tunneling has loosened the soil.
Look for small mounds of pushed-up soil and finger-width surface tunnels, especially visible after rain.
Listen at night in spring (March–April) for the distinctive trilling sound males make from their burrows.
Treatment
How We Treat Tawny Mole Crickets
We target mole crickets when nymphs are small and shallow — typically June through July. A granular or liquid insecticide applied to the surface and watered in reaches the nymphs in the top inch of soil. Late-season treatment for large adults requires bait products that mole crickets eat in their tunnels. We also recommend proper irrigation to help the turf recover from tunnel damage.
Urgency level
Emergency or Routine Treatment?
Mole cricket damage is gradual, not sudden. It builds over weeks and months. The best approach is preventive treatment in June when nymphs are small and close to the surface. By late summer, large mole crickets are deep in the soil and harder to reach. This is a routine treatment issue, not an emergency — but ignoring it leads to serious damage by fall.
Affected grasses
Grass Types Vulnerable to Tawny Mole Crickets
Why Attaboy
Professional Tawny Mole Crickets Treatment from Attaboy
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions About Tawny Mole Crickets
What is making tunnels in my lawn?
If you see raised, finger-width tunnels at the soil surface, that’s mole crickets. Unlike moles (which create larger, deeper ridges), mole cricket tunnels are shallow and about the width of a pencil.
Why does my lawn feel spongy when I walk on it?
Mole cricket tunneling loosens the soil beneath the turf, creating a soft, spongy feel underfoot. It’s a telltale sign even before you see brown patches.
Are mole crickets the same as moles?
No. Mole crickets are insects, about 1.5 inches long, that tunnel just below the surface. Moles are mammals that create deeper, larger tunnel systems. Both damage lawns, but the treatment is completely different.
When is the best time to treat for mole crickets?
June–July, when nymphs are small and close to the surface. Adult mole crickets in late summer are larger, deeper, and harder to control. Preventive treatment in early summer is always more effective.
Take action
Stop Tawny Mole Crickets Before the Damage Spreads
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