Year of the Cicada

[rockm]

"We may be splitting hairs here with semantics. They may not literally eat trees, but there was definitely damage to deciduous trees in my yard when this happened last. I dont really care that they dont ingest tree parts, but I do care that damage did occur from cicadas, and I for one will be keeping a close eye on my little trees. If damage on the scale of landscape trees happens to bonsai, a tree could be ruined with the damage or loss of just one branch"

I will keep an eye out, but I'm not stressing about this. There are other things that are much more dangerous and of more immediate danger to my bonsai, like nighttime frosts...

 

[lordy]

Yep, I know the difference !!!
That would be why I said "where I am at we get these..."
Thanks though...

Sorry, I misunderstood you and jumped to a conclusion.

 

[Beng]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjLiWy2nT7U

 

[A Random User]

Sorry, I misunderstood you and jumped to a conclusion.

No problem

 

[MattB]

Jumping on here way late, but the main damage we get from cicadas is the semi-mature females laying eggs in the new growth/twigs on softer wooded trees. The larva wont do anything damaging while in their shells, so trying to protect the ground level of your trees is useless. After "Brood X" (17yr Brood), you will notice a ton of branch tips dying off and falling to the ground. This is intentional, it is how the eggs reach their 17 year home inside mother earth. I had pictures, but cant seem to find them. I'm sure google works.

One thing to watch for that is probably a more serious issue than plant damage... animals absolutely love the taste cicada larva. However, it can and will make them sick because there is a never ending supply. So be careful with the four legged friends. More disturbingly, you can find articles everywhere online about people also eating them.

I think I remember hearing that over time the main brood has slowly split into different broods causing the seemingly annual visit to the eastern/midwestern US. Here in southern Indiana, we had a large brood 3-4 years ago, but it was nothing like I remember in Ohio as a child.

Apparently lady bugs do the same thing. In 2004 we had red clouds of ladybugs in Indiana that took over everything. Smelled awful. I no longer enjoy telling them to fly, fly away home...

 

[MattB]

heres something neat from nat geo (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...das-coming-sky-locust-swarm-animal-science/):


"The genetic mechanism that prompts periodical cicadas to emerge kicks in every 17 years (or every 13 years for other broods) when the ground warms up to 64°F (18°C).

Some researchers think the timing of a brood’s emergence is a defensive mechanism—appearing at infrequent intervals means that it’s harder for would-be predators like birds and squirrels to anticipate when the insects will be available to eat.

Others suggest that the 13- and 17-year cycles, prime numbers in mathematics, help cicadas avoid parasites. A 2004 study from the University of Campinas in Brazil suggested that a cicada with a 17-year cycle and a parasite with a two-year cycle, for example, would meet only twice each century.

But not all cicadas breed on this multiyear cycle. Some, like the tibicen cicadas, work on an annual rotation, leaving them more susceptible to predators like the cicada killer wasp (Sphecius speciosus).

The wasps know exactly when to expect the annual cicadas in late summer or early fall. The wasp lays its eggs on the cicadas, and the larvae slowly kill the cicada and feed off its carcass."

 

[David wv]

I have probably almost 30 trees (small pre-bonsai, nothing to nice) that have the damage from where they lay there eggs on the underside of branches and trunks. I suppose I will have to cut off everything that has the damage. I,ve been having this problem since they showed up a few months ago and I just now figured out what was causing it. I use to not mind them but now I hate the little suckers.

 

[Caryboy]

my pit bull catches as many as he can and seems like they know he is on patrol late evening and early morning.