Insect Damage

For those of you who have been out playing in this extreme heat, you may have noticed some damage on #4 green.  Although the damage is very minimal, it is affecting the way the green plays.  The insect we have it a short-tailed cricket.  This cricket will come out late in the evening and feed on our bentgrass green.  The damage isn't coming from the feeding, it's coming from the hole they burrow into the ground. They leave a large casting on top of the canopy and when we mow or roll over it in the mornings, it looks like a larger ball mark.  We knew something was feeding and burrowing in our green but we didn't know what.  So we used an old trick that many superintendents use.  We mixed up some water and lemon joy dishwashing soap, came out early in the morning when they were still active and poured the mixture on one of the castings.  Within minutes, the soap floated a cricket up out of the hole.  After further investigating, we knew it was a short-tailed cricket.  We have ordered some insecticide and should get this problem taken care of quickly.  #4 green might play a little rough for the next week or so but should be back to normal by the end of the month.

These are the castings we find in the mornings  and a picture of the crickets.