All, I've just found out that this is our 17 year cycle for the cicadas! I'm just about as frustrated as can be as I only started gardening several years ago. I had a grand idea for a brug/datura garden, but what if these cicadas love the brugs and dats?
Does anyone have experience with cicadas & brugs?
Here's the link that talks about them locally -- http://aroundcinci.com/gen_includes/article.asp?articleid=2056&catName=knowledge&subName=&cat=cat1
Monocromatico, in Brazil, has already seen/experienced them in their mass!
Brugs & Cicadas - who wins?
Sorry Morph,I was busy flying around Cincinnati on your hyperlink,too cool!
I don't think you need to worry,it may not get as bad as they say!
LOL, Root! I'm hoping they don't bother the garden, but I do recall that they were literally all over the place for about two weeks when they hatched 17 years ago. If it gets this bad again, I will take pictures to show ☺
Here is a picture of what I put up with a few years ago. It was horrible. We had so many that the place smelled for six weeks, especially after a heavy rain and they drown. The did damage to our fruit trees, ate the hosta leaves, crawled all over everything, but stayed out of the sun, so flowers and veggies in the sun didn't have damage.
This picture was scanned, so it isn't very good.
This picture will show you how thick they were when they died. It wasn't pleasant at all and there were places in the yard that they were much worse. It was a miserable six weeks.
wow, now Im trying to remember when we had ours last, hhm DD is 14 now and it was before her I think we are do any time now too, unless its a coastal thing, those things were everywhere, being on a motorcycle was hazardous. wow, dang I hope my plants will be ok too.
no one told our cicadas this rule, down here in tx they come every yr. lol
Ugh....what are they? I've never seen or heard of them before! They look nasty!
:S ughh? we have grasshoppers here that get monsterous, and come to my house to escape the crop duster spray in the surrounding fields, must I also endure the locust too? *cicadas are locust right?* bless your heart, Ill not whine about my aphids anymore....cheryl
Well I got curious and did a search. Here is what I found on Texas cicadas http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/aimg82.html
Seems like we have two kinds of periodical cicadas, a 13 year one and a yearly one.
Morph
Every year, I have some that look just like Brugie's photo (maybe mine are annual rather than the 17 cycle ones). I find tons of their dead skeletons on the trees, but I have never seen one on any of my plants. However, they make enough noise to wake the dead! Nat
Nat we get them everyyear here too but the one year I was thinking of they were EVERYWHERE, when they started dying you had to push them asidewith your foot or sound like you were walking on a gravel driveway. I was at a resteraunt eating outside and one landed on my shulder, all the guys there stopped in mid-chew and stared at me waiting for me to scream and what not. Then the looks on their faces when I looked at it then continued eating was hysterical, oh what a laugh I had at their expense. I figured he dosnt eat much, Ive never been bitten by one and he'll leave when hes ready. He stayed on my shoulder for about 5 minutes and then took off.
We have cicadas, but they are mostly small and green with the exception of the rhododendron cicadas, which are colored. A real pest in our forests is a large beetle. Its name is cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris). His larvae lives between 5 and 7 years in the ground. In years, when they hatch in large numbers, they eat the leaves of almost all trees. Parts of our forests look like in the winter, completely defoliated. But they never touched my Brugs.
The beetles life circle is only two weeks. They die after mating.
Well, I hope we don't have a major invasion of them. I think they are pretty creepy looking! Of course, I can't imagine disliking anything more than Japanese Beetles and Earwigs (except for the scorpions that they have out west - yuck).
There are 2 types of cicadas. The annual are larger than the 17 year. There's lots of different kinds. I found some last summer so looked them up on the net. Quite interesting reading IMHO! :)
Even though we have the yearly ones, I do not consider them a pest. I never see them . . only hear them in the evenings and since I have lived here all my life, I consider them to part of the sounds of summer. I have many fun memories of my DH walking around with the shedding of their outer layer on his nose. I can't help but laugh when I remember the expression on the grandkids face when he would turn around and look at him. My DH is also the one who hangs those small green lizards on his ear lobes. I don't believe he will ever completely grow up . . lol
When we had the big crop, they made so much noise you couldn't hear yourself think. They were turned on all day and evening and the noise came in waves. One group in one area and as it started to quiet down, another group chimed in. It was like they were talking to each other from different parts of the yard. The worst part was trying to sit on the deck. We couldn't. They were crawling on us all the time. It seemed to be worse in the country than in town too. I'm thinking about moving to town before they come out again.
Well, I guess maybe there is hope for my sunny garden? Thanks for the pictures, Brugie! Perhaps those were the 13 year variety? I'm wondering if I'll need a special spray for my birch trees as they are not a sturdy tree. They are in the shade mostly and I would just cry if these creatures ate them :(
I read more on Cala's link and I guess cicada = locust. I think grasshoppers must be in their own class or species. But, then I read this article that said cicadas are not locusts and it even has a recipe ~ aackkk! http://wildwnc.org/trees/Robinia_pseudoacacia.html
Thanks for the info, Monika, about your beetles & brug experiences. I do so want to have this garden this year and I need some positive reinforcement.
Dravencat, that's a good story! And, it's also how I remember these creatures 17 years ago ~ just everywhere!
Well...these 17 yr. old Cicadas are suppose to invade Maryland, either last this Spring or by early Summer, too. Ohio won't be the only state affected by these nasty bugs!!! Look at the link and see if your state will be one of the ones to get them.... http://www.dancentury.com/cicada/faq.html#chart
Whew, we have another 11 years of peace and quite.....without those pest.....
Dee
Thanks, Shirley ~ that is a great help!
Morph: Cicada's USUALLY prefer oaks, maples, and fruit trees. I don't know if they will leave the Brug's alone! I didn't have any Brug's 17 yrs. ago!! Does anyone have 1st hand experience with Brug's & Cicada's???
Question: Are cicadas locusts?
Answer: NO! True locusts belong to the same family of insects as grasshoppers, in fact they look just like a grasshopper. The confusion stems from the fact that both Locusts and Magicicada emerge in periodic swarms. Locusts are far more destructive, destroying all plant life in their path. Cicadas just fly around trees and kill a few branches here and there.
Question: Will the cicadas kill my trees, shrubs and flowers?
Answer: No. Cicadas don't kill flowers or shrubs, but they will do minimal damage to deciduous trees (maples, oaks, fruit trees). Unless you have an orchard or a prize ornamental fruit tree I wouldn't worry. Cicadas actually are a benefit to trees, as they destroy the weaker branches. Please don't use pesticides — you'll destroy the good bugs as well and the "nuisance" bugs, and ultimately do your garden and the environment a huge disfavor.
http://www.dancentury.com/cicada/faq.html#a6
This message was edited Feb 13, 2004 3:12 PM
They do a lot of damage. Our cedar trees were about 5 or six foot tall and they chewed the bark and the tops bent over. My dogwood had the same damage and I had to splint the top of it. It was about 7 ft. tall. The fruit trees weren't bothered as much since they were far away from the big trees where the critters had spent the last 17 years chewing on the roots to live. My hostas had holes in them and I learned that fixing my hair before going outside was a waste of time since they had to be lifted out of it at all times of the day. There were no brugs here then, but the damage can still be seen. Oh yes, they even chewed on the wood lawn furniture.
Wow, that was an interesting site! I didnt see Colorado on there, and I can honestly say I have NEVER heard that noise they make! (dont think I want to) We do have somthing (like Brugie says) one group will stop, and another starts in, but they are not nearly as loud as these ones. (maybe related) also, just a sound of summer.
Im enjoying reading all these posts.
Here in Michigan we never see any damage, just the noise they make. I'm on the family farm and we have they every year, I guess they are in all stages , or years as some years there are more.. They never bothered my Burgs, in fact the only place I find the shells is in the trees. Bloomers and Veggies are fine.
Annabelle, there is a big difference in the ones we see each year and the 13 and 17 year locusts. I hope you never have to see them. We have the others every year too. They are a sign of upcoming fall when we first hear them. Anyway, cross your fingers that you don't get the baddies.
I sure hope we don't get that or I'll be out there picking all night long unless the birds will eat them or soap and neem oil will work on them. I can't use pesticides it would kill to many other critters around here.
I posted this in another thread, but i have already had two people email me to share it here also (they must have thought I was kidding) %)
From the hills and valleys of Tennessee!
Aaaaahhhhhh!!!! Incoming!
The sound is deafening! We are in the valley of yon mountains, what we call "God's Country". It is one of the greenest views and the autumns are flat spectacular with the nursery industry (over 300) in just our county alone ------ but the Cidada's are EVERYWHERE!
In the mornings coming throught the mountains (in my WHITE truck) the sound of the splattering of hundreds of these irratic pattern flying objects is just gross.
I have nasty purple spots all over the Yukon and I look like a moving Dalmation with a bad hair day - lol!
My kids think its great, and I wish I could see the joy in it also, but I just don't see that happening. (they love to count the splats as we go down the road).
I know I sound just like a whiner and I realize this is God's plan - but really. do they have to multiply like this???
I do believe that Alfred Hitchcock was not talking about the birds - I think it was the Cicadas - lol!
We had a 30 foot swimming pool when they were here last time. Cleaning them out of the skimmer all day was such fun. You'd empty it & then it would fill right back up. YUCK!!! My new trees still have huge scars from them.
Linda
I'm not sure when IL is due for them. It should be anytime now. I can remember back when I was a kid and my brother and I were around maybe 8 and 10 years old and the cicadas were everywhere. We had a magnifying glass and would literally cook them with sunlight. They smelled like grilled hamburgers. I'll never forget that smell. I don't recall seeing them since that year. Maybe I was a couple years older. Oh well. Now that I have a large purple martin colony they can feast till their little bellies are fat. From what I understand they will feast readily on the cicadas. I've seen them chase the large annual cicadas and I have found parts of cicada wings and heads in the gourds. There isn't much I can do if they start chewing on everything.
Maybe we could fry them and eat like fat pigs if the price of gas and grocery items keeps going up. *shudders*
Interesting, I just looked up the periodical cicada and the 17-year cicada does not occur in my area. However, Central IL is due for two hatchings of the 13 year cicada in 2011 and 2014.
This message was edited Jun 2, 2008 8:06 PM
Here in Texas we have the dog day cicada. Stays around all summer. The noise is ear splitting. They are all over our live oak trees here on the ranch, but I haven't seen any damage to my Brugs. Now grasshoppers are the real danger. The eggs of some of the earlier emerging species of grasshoppers must have dried out this winter because we didn't have any grasshoppers in March, April and most of May. ....but there must have been some nymphs somewhere nearby because large quantities of adults have moved in in the last week. Too late for NOLO?
http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/aimg82.html
I have grown Brugs for over 25 years and we have huge numbers of cicadas ...they have never touched the Angels ...I watched a program recently that said they are the loudest insect on Earth noisier than jackhammers in the decibel count ...we have them every Summer and the shells you find are the skins they have shed and left behind. I think your brugs are safe.