CULT: Crickets--Comet, Vinegar, Mothballs and Garlic

I am just about at my wit's end with crickets. Everyone I relate this to 
thinks that it is funny, that innocent little crickets couldn't be really causing 
that much harm. Some people laugh. I am really distressed and disgusted 
because it seems nothing I try is working. I have some specific questions at the end 
of this post, following my explanation of what I've done thus far. If anyone 
can reply to those, I'd be grateful.

What I've tried:
I have powdered with Sevin dust, and if it rains overnight the dust is washed 
away, and I have bite marks all over the next morning. I hate reapplying 
poison day after day. It just does not seem healthy.  

I have used a bait of honey, water, grenadine and vanilla. This attracts them 
and kills some of them (they drown), but this does nothing to keep their 
numerous cousins off my plants.

I read that white vinegar repels crickets, so I spread some around the bed. I 
also read that crickets hate mothballs, so I stuck some of those around the 
plants. I went out that night with a flashlight, and crickets were everywhere, 
one right on top of Crowned Heads, about to chow down. The smell of the 
vinegar and moth balls did more to make me sick than the crickets.

I read here on the archives that sprinkling Comet on the rhizomes worked, so 
I did it. The writer said that it would be awfully ugly, and it is. But on one 
of the rhizomes where the Comet isn't covering is a brand new "scoop" mark. 
The Comet doesn't repel them; they just will not bite through it.

Every one of my new plants has scoops eaten out of them. Three of my 
transplanted rhizomes have been "gutted"--crickets have literally eaten tunnels 
through them. I have never had such a pest problem like this except for  summer 1998 
when Japanese beetles were swarming like black clouds devouring everything.

My questions are:

Am I correct that reapplying poison more than once a week (Sevin 10% in this 
case) is not good?

Aren't rhizomes supposed to be exposed to the sun? If I cover the rhizome 
with a layer of Comet (completely), will this negate the important effects of the 
sun on the plant's growth? Does anyone know what it is about Comet that 
repels crickets?

I have used homemade sprays of garlic with success before on some vegetables. 
I am wondering if taking minced bottled pure garlic juice and painting it on 
to the rhizomes with a paintbrush might provide a natural deterrent. However, 
pure garlic is strong. Would it burn/harm the iris rhizome to do this?

And, finally, if I must use poison, is there some kind which would not have 
to be reapplied again and again due to rain?


I suppose if I have to, I could cover the new plantings with terra cotta pots 
each evening, and uncover them each morning. But there has to be something 
better than that solution.

Thank you for your time. 

Mike

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