Cricket Manure: A Great Organic Fertilizer

If you are looking for an organic fertilizer for your garden that does not smell like animal excrement and is great for all your plants, shrubs and turf you might want to try a cricket manure fertilizer. It takes a lot of crickets (about 10,000 of them) to produce enough poo to fill a container of this wonderful plant food, but cricket farmers are happy to scoop it up and sell it to you for a fair price. Cricket manure is known by many names including cricket droppings, cricket litter, cricket poo, cricket poop and kricket krap, but they all prove to be a highly effective, environmentally safe, more pleasant way to make your garden grow. All organic fertilizers respect the balance of microorganisms in the soil making for a healthier environment, but cricket fertilizer is easy to use, economical, light-weight, non-sticky and odor-free.

I learned of the wonders of cricket fertilizer from master gardeners across the southeastern United States while producing programs for Home and Garden Television. There are two readily available brands of cricket fertilizer, (both harvested by Georgia farmers) - Kricket Krap and Cricket Poo!.  Both are still relatively unknown as organic plant foods; - Chicken Poop, Bat Guano and Worm Castings leading the pack of popular organic poop products, but the commercially appealing, non-stinky Cricket variety is quickly winning over thousands of eco-conscious gardeners.

Plant and lawn fertilizers vary widely, but if you narrow it down to two main categories they would be chemical and organic. Cricket manure, an organic fertilizer is sold as a dry, sandy textured mixture.

Chemical fertilizers are (unfortunately) the most widely used fertilizers. Although they boost plant production, the chemicals compromise the soil's natural balance, killing off organisms that protect vegetation from disease. Chemical companies win again by selling additional chemicals to combat plant disease. In addition, millions of tax dollars are spent each year cleaning up the hazards these products inflict on our water and air quality.

Organic fertilizers like cricket manure work alongside nature providing plants with natural nutrients without killing off other bio-friendly organisms in the soil. In addition, fruits and vegetables grown organically are known to contain higher levels of Vitamin C and essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and chromium as well as cancer-fighting antioxidants.

Plants gain nutrition from the sun, from water and from the three main nutrients found in the soil; - nitrogen (the key nutrient), phosphate and potassium. Most soil is nutrient deficient and cannot support the growth of healthy, strong plants.

All fertilizers including organic fertilizers such as cricket manure have an NPK rating that indicates the ratio of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium (potash).

Leafy green plants including grass are nitrogen loving plants but soybeans and legume type plants such as alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, and lentils, are particularly sensitive to nitrogen. Too much can burn the roots of tender plants and can cause quick plant growth when it is not needed. Although a high nitrogen level is favorable in a fertilizer you must follow the directions on the fertilizer packaging when applying it to insure the best results.

Cricket fertilizer is made by crickets, of course, but what is more interesting is how it became popular as an organic garden fertilizer.

Crickets are traditionally farmed and sold as pet food for geckos, other reptiles and as fish bait, but in the early 1980's an eco-conscious Georgia farmer, Bill Bricker, discovered that it was wasteful to discard cricket waste.

In his quest to find new uses for organic compost materials, he and his partner, Ed Hensley checked out a nearby cricket farm in Augusta, Georgia. The owner, Robert W. Whaley noticed his grass was growing out of control because he had been tossing the cricket droppings on the turf.

As they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure and Bricker eventually proved it to be true. He suspected there was gold at the bottom of the cricket cage; but the road to cricket poop prosperity was still a long way off.

When Bricker's company, Bricko first started selling cricket poop as an organic fertilizer they called it CC-84 (short for “cricket crap -1984”) . The problem was that CC-84 sounded more like a chemical product than an organic one. It wasn't until an advertising professional suggested they cut out the niceties and call it what it was. Kricket Krap was born.

Newspapers and radio stations across America picked up on the poop story proving toilet humor really does sell. It certainly got Kricket Krap off to a healthy start. The old saying, “there's no such thing as bad publicity” also proved to be true when Bell South refused to allow Kricket Krap to be listed in the Yellow Pages claiming the name would offend people. The Associated Press soon learned of the story and gave it international coverage. According to Bill Bricker, “When you consider the free press we got for NOT having to pay for an ad, well, that's the best dollar-for-dollar business expense I ever had.”

Sales improved even further when curious buyers realized it was also a great product.

Why is cricket poop a great fertilizer? Yes, it is totally organic and high in nitrogen which plants love...but the real secret is that farmed crickets are fed a high protein diet of blood meal, fish meal, soybean meal, ground corn, and molasses. The fertilizer is blended with bits of cricket food, shed cricket skin and paper scraps from the cricket cages. It is then dried, making for a very effective slow release fertilizer. Kricket Krap lasts for months depending on the weather and the amount of rainfall. The fertilizer takes effect just when it is most needed, during the warm growing season. Mix it into the soil as directed, water well and enjoy the garden's bounty. According to Bricko, if it grows in the garden, your plants will love it.

Kricket Krap sells for only $4.00 for a 4 lb. Box or $15 for a 35lb Bag. You can buy some on the Bricko Farms website.

Cricket Poo!, also made in Augusta, Georgia is another widely available cricket manure product. It's more expensive, (5lbs goes for $14.99) but it is commercially packaged in a handy plastic container. Cricket Poo! has a dry, sandy-like texture, and doesn't have much odor. It's available on-line at cleanairgardening.com.

Product             % N                % P               % K%            Total NPK Value
CricketPoo!         4.04             2.18              2.26                       8.48
Kricket Krap        3.00             2.00              1.00                       6.00
Chicken Poop     1.00             0.80              0.39                        2.19
Horse Plop          0.70             0.25              0.77                       1.72
Worm Castings   0.86             0.37              0.25                       1.48
Cow Patties        0.57             0.23              0.62                        1.42
Swine Slop         0.49             0.34               0.47                       1.30

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