Answers to Go with Susan Smith

Q. Follow-up to recent column: Who first said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all?”

A. I received several replies to my request for similar phrases from other cultures. A comparable phrase from China would be roughly translated as “If no good thing to say, then express with ‘silence is golden.’” This gentleman also forwarded an expression from a friend in Lahore, Pakistan: “One silence, one hundred rewards.”

Q. Every fall, we have a cricket invasion at work. I heard a Texas Agri-Life radio interview about crickets that said that the type of outdoor lighting used contributed to the problem, but I didn’t catch the details. Can you help me find something on that?

A. Sure. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service offers online information on “Insects in the City” includes cricket control options.

Apparently in this radio discussion, light was key to pesticide-free control. The Aggie entomologists explain, “During severe outbreaks crickets can create an aesthetically unacceptable situation around places of business.

“Dead crickets quickly pile up, causing odors; and many people are repelled by the sight of large numbers of crickets on walls and sidewalks around offices and stores.

“Outdoor lighting is the most important single cause of severe cricket infestations around homes and commercial buildings.

“Buildings that are brightly lit at night are most likely to attract the largest numbers of crickets during the fall mating season. Reducing outdoor lights is the first, and most important, step in a cricket control program.

“During cricket swarming season, outdoor lights should be turned off as early in the evening as practical, or should be replaced with lamps that are less attractive to insects.

“Low-pressure sodium vapor lamps and yellow incandescent “bug lights” are less attractive to crickets than standard incandescent, fluorescent, mercury vapor or halogen lights.

“Floodlights that illuminate homes or buildings, and which are not necessary for security purposes, should be turned off; or the lighting schedule should be restricted to a few hours each night.

“Crickets are especially likely to enter under doors at well-lighted entryways to buildings, as well as cracks and openings around outdoor lights. Steel or brass wool may be stuffed in weep holes as temporary insect barriers, while allowing continued air circulation.

“Door sweeps consisting of nylon bristles or rubber seals can often be installed quickly and provide a dramatic reduction of crickets entering schools and other commercial buildings.

“Liquid insecticide sprays may be applied to outdoor sites around weep holes, doorways, windows and other cricket entryways. Indoor sprays are not very effective for field crickets and are not recommended.

“Cricket control with insecticides should be considered as only a partial solution to cricket problems. Insecticides should be used in combination with reductions in outdoor lighting for best control.

“When crickets are drawn to lighted buildings at night, they will continue to cause problems, regardless of the amounts of insecticides used.”

I am not a native Texan, but Texas is my home. I got here too late to attend a Texas college, but I am a faithful fan of the A&M AgriLife folks and the reliable information they provide!