The Cicadas Are Coming!

Monday, March 1, 2004

tr8e The Cicadas Are Coming! The Cicadas Are Coming! (NAPSA)—If you’re standing in a field and see a swarm of insects emerge, you won’t be alone. This season, billions of shrimp-sized bugs with black bodies, red eyes and delicate, amber-veined wings will carpet trees in the Midwest, the Northeast and the South. They are periodical cicadas and they are now emerging after 17 years. How To Detect Them? Besides the persistent noise that male cicadas make, it is easy to determine if your trees are infested with cicadas or regular old June bugs. Hanging from your tree branches, you will find the presence of a large number of pupa sacks. Periodical cicadas are very large—up to three inches long. If you carefully look at the twigs on the tree, you will find they are noticeably split or splintered where eggs have been laid. Cicada Fast Facts Here are some facts about cicadas that may surprise you: Male cicadas die soon after mating. A female cicada will lay as many as 400 to 600 eggs in tree bark. Male cicadas humming can drown out the soundof a lawnmower. Only male cicadas hum. e As many as 40,000 cicadas can tunnel out from under one large tree. Controlling Infestation Because periodical cicadas arrive by the millions, it is almost impossible to control infestation. Large, established trees will survive the pest, but your saplings could die. Band trees with a stick substance called “tanglefoot” or use kitchen cheesecloth. You can also apply carbaryl to young saplings or nursery stock at a rate equivalent to one pound per acre. To learn more, please visit www.gardentech.com.

--- PHOTOS ---

File: 20190816-173358-20190816-173356-60941.pdf.jpg

--- FILES ---

File: 20190816-173356-60941.pdf