Crickets are common insects often associated with chirping sounds, but they can also become garden pests. The direct answer for gardeners is yes, crickets are capable of consuming strawberries if they are readily available. This feeding behavior is a product of their broad, opportunistic diet, allowing them to capitalize on soft, accessible food sources like ripe fruit.
Understanding Cricket Dietary Habits
Crickets are classified as omnivores, meaning their diet includes both plant matter and other small organisms. In the wild, their food intake is highly varied, consisting of seeds, decaying organic debris, tender young foliage, and small insects. This diverse diet is driven by their need for protein, carbohydrates, and moisture.
A ripe strawberry becomes an attractive target because it provides a concentrated source of moisture and sugars. Field crickets possess mandibles designed for chewing and tearing, making it easy for them to breach the soft skin of a mature berry. Since crickets are primarily nocturnal, most feeding damage occurs under the cover of darkness.
Identifying Feeding Damage on Fruit
Confirming crickets are the culprits requires a close inspection of the damaged fruit, as their marks are distinct from those of other common pests. Cricket feeding typically results in shallow, irregular, and rough-edged holes or pits on the fruit’s surface. This damage often occurs on berries lying close to the ground, where the crickets can easily access them.
The appearance of the damage can be contrasted with other garden visitors. Slugs and snails leave behind larger, deeper holes and often a silvery slime trail. Bird damage, conversely, is usually a single, triangular, sharp peck mark. If you find multiple small, jagged cavities on the lower side of the strawberry, crickets are a likely cause. Crickets will also chew on the tender leaves of young transplants, leaving similarly jagged holes in the foliage.
Protecting Your Strawberry Plants
Implementing cultural controls and physical barriers can greatly reduce the likelihood of crickets damaging your strawberry harvest. Crickets thrive in hidden, damp environments, so maintaining a clean growing area is a primary defense. Regularly removing plant debris, weeds, and mulch eliminates their daytime hiding spots and reduces their population.
Physical exclusion is an effective, non-chemical method of protection. Using fine-mesh netting or floating row covers over the strawberry patch prevents crickets from reaching the fruit while still allowing light and water to pass through. Creating a barrier of diatomaceous earth (DE) around the plants is another strategy. This fine powder is harmless to humans and pets but desiccates the crickets’ exoskeletons upon contact, acting as a deterrent. Placing straw or plastic mulch under the plants also helps keep the berries elevated and less accessible to ground-dwelling pests.