Over the past several weeks I've been finding an ever-growing number of
tiny crickets all over by back yard. They're less than 1/2" long and
dark in color. It's to the point now that I can see the grass move as
they jump out of the way when I walk across the lawn. I'm trying to
find out what kind of crickets they are and what I should do to manage
them.

I live in Northern Virginia. Our back yard is mostly shaded, somewhat
damp in spots, but not really swampy. We have some dead areas of
browned grass and a few spots that have turned mossy on the soil
surface where the grass has died off. This is our first spring/summer
in the house. I was trying to wait to see the full cycle of seasons
before starting on the lawn, but realize I probably need to start this
fall with soem management for next year. We have zoysia in the front
which gets lots of sun exposure, but the back seem to be a mix of
grasses.

From what I've read I don't think we have mole crickets, since the
crickets I've seen are very small and I can't find any major tunneling.
We have a small child and I'm nto too fond of her playing in the yard
amongst all the little critters...the mosquitos out there are bad
enough.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

-Dave