Galloway Farm

 

First, they are not locusts. They are a completely
different species. Locusts are more akin to
grasshoppers.

 

They do not bite or sting. And they are not attracted
to humans, despite the fact that they may fly into you
as they are buzzing around.

 

There are two different cicada cycles; a 13-year
cycle and a 17-year cycle. Cicadas of the latter variety
are generally found in the northern United States.

 

While they arrive every 13 or 17 years, that doesn’t 

mean they won’t be seen in a particular state again
before then. (They made news in the Midwest in 2007 
.) That’s because within the species there are different
broods, each with a different timeline. Hence, the next
emergence of cicadas in Tennessee, Brood XXIII, will
happen in 2015. That brood will mostly be isolated to
the western part of the state.

 

Cicadas usually arrive in early May, after surviving
underground by feeding on tree roots. They emerge
from the ground when the soil temperature where
they live reaches 67 degrees. Four or five days later,
the males begin their “chorus” and mating begins.The females then begin laying eggs in the limbs of
smaller trees, as many as 400 to 600 eggs at a time.
After six to seven weeks the eggs hatch and the
“nymphs,” as they are called, drop to the ground and
burrow into the soil where they remain for 13 to 17
years.

It is the laying of eggs that poses a danger to small
flowering and fruit trees. A female can make five to 20
slits in one branch to deposit her eggs. That causes
the branch eventually to wilt and die.

Cicadas: Protect Trees With Cheesecloth
The time from emergence to death is approximately four to five weeks.

After that the cicadas die quickly.

It’s not uncommon to find hundreds of dead cicadas piled up under trees in early June.

When they die and decompose, the nitrogen in their bodies fertilizes the soil.