Editor’s note: The following information is supplied by Wayne Dellinger, Union County Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources.
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Western and west central Ohio should start hearing a distinct “buzzing” or “chirping” coming from our wooded areas sometime soon.
Cicada Brood X (10) of the 17-year periodical cicadas is waiting for the right moment to make its appearance.
These cicadas are currently in the nymph stage underground burrowing vertical tunnels toward the surface waiting for soil temperatures to reach around 64 degrees Fahrenheit. This process has slowed somewhat this year because of dips in temperatures. Once emerged, these nymphs will shed their exoskeleton and the adult cicadas will emerge.
For the following two to four weeks, the adults will mate, and the females will inject her eggs into small branches of trees. These eggs will number between 400 and 600 per adult female. After a short period of time, the eggs will hatch, and the newborn nymphs will drop to the ground and burrow in to spend the next 17 years.
Will you see or hear these where you live?
That depends. The cicadas prefer woodlots, forests, and parks with trees that are at least twenty years old. If you live somewhere with trees younger than that in the landscape or nearby, your chances are less. Basically, if you did not have trees 17 years ago, you will not have cicadas this year. If you did not have cicadas in 2004, you will not have cicadas this year.
What type of damage should we expect?
The first apparent damage might be to our ears. The “buzzing” or “chirping” coming from the emerged adults may reach 90 to 100 decibels. In comparison, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires hearing protection to be used for any worker in an environment averaging 85 decibels or above for a period of eight hours.
Agronomic crops (corn, soybeans, wheat, forages) are not at risk of damage from the cicadas. Trees on the other hand, do have some risk. The nymphs feed on the sugars in the roots of the mature hardwoods but do minimal damage at that time. The adult females injecting her eggs into the small branches of trees does pose a risk in some situations. For mature trees, the damage is minimal. For trees that are pruned often like fruit trees/orchard trees or newly transplanted landscape trees, there is risk. The multiple jabs injecting eggs may damage branches enough they die or are easily broken.
Insecticides are generally ineffective on cicadas. They are large insects that would require a very high dose to achieve desired results. The best strategy, and only as a last resort, would be to wrap the trees that you want protected. This should only be done if you see actual presence of cicadas on the tree itself. Tree wrapping or netting, if not done properly or with the wrong material, may cause more damage than the cicadas.
For more information, please call Wayne Dellinger at the Union County Extension Office at 937-644-8117 or email dellinger.6@osu.edu.