Cicada - Locust On their Way - help

[WTNUT]

It has just come to my attention that 2016 is the year of the locust in my area. I also know they are very hard on fruit trees, So what advise do the experts have with regard to dealing with them?

 

[Merle Hawggard]

I had them in 2011, we have the 13 year kind, and they do a number on new growth, but no lasting damage. The worst thing for me was one of my accf chestnuts got blight where they laid eggs in several places in it. Other than netting over smaller trees I don't know what you can do to keep them off. Hopefully someone has better luck with them than I've had.

 

[WTNUT]

Called a local pest control person and he said "you can't kill them they are biblical"!

 

[chickenlittle]

Appears to be "cicada netting" available at not too bad of a price. I think netting would be good for a few young, small, fragile and tender trees.

 

[WTNUT]

I just got a buddy into growing apples and he is losing his mind over this. His trees are starting their third year and he calls then his children. We are traveling to pick up some farm equipment and at midnight last night all I heard was "you can't kill them".

 

[Bowsnbucks]

These things are NOT the locusts of the Bible. Those critters are a mutant form of grasshopper. A cicada is a cicada - not a locust. People call cicadas " locusts " wrongly. I remember when they were in Pa. and Maryland last time and they didn't strip the trees. The biggest problem was there were so many millions of them, they made the roads slick with crushed bodies when cars ran over them.

 

[chummer]

These things are NOT the locusts of the Bible. Those critters are a mutant form of grasshopper. A cicada is a cicada - not a locust. People call cicadas " locusts " wrongly. I remember when they were in Pa. and Maryland last time and they didn't strip the trees. The biggest problem was there were so many millions of them, they made the roads slick with crushed bodies when cars ran over them.

We get tent catapults like that every 10 years or so. The roads are so gross, don't even think about riding a bike. If you stand quietly in the woods it sounds like it is raining...it's not rain!

 

[WTNUT]

These things are NOT the locusts of the Bible. Those critters are a mutant form of grasshopper. A cicada is a cicada - not a locust. People call cicadas " locusts " wrongly. I remember when they were in Pa. and Maryland last time and they didn't strip the trees. The biggest problem was there were so many millions of them, they made the roads slick with crushed bodies when cars ran over them.

These things are NOT the locusts of the Bible. Those critters are a mutant form of grasshopper. A cicada is a cicada - not a locust. People call cicadas " locusts " wrongly. I remember when they were in Pa. and Maryland last time and they didn't strip the trees. The biggest problem was there were so many millions of them, they made the roads slick with crushed bodies when cars ran over them.

Here is what we are getting. I don't care what they are called. How do I keep them from damaging my trees.

http://entomology.osu.edu/bugdoc/PerioCicada/PeriCicadaMap.htm

 

[WTNUT]

These things are NOT the locusts of the Bible. Those critters are a mutant form of grasshopper. A cicada is a cicada - not a locust. People call cicadas " locusts " wrongly. I remember when they were in Pa. and Maryland last time and they didn't strip the trees. The biggest problem was there were so many millions of them, they made the roads slick with crushed bodies when cars ran over them.

And on a serious note I think you are right.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

WTNUT - I haven't seen them strip trees here. They make a huge ruckus with their singing / buzzing when there are millions of them, but I haven't seen tree damage. We get some of the type that come out every year, too. They come up from beneath the soil and crawl up tree trunks, hatch from their shells at night , and leave an empty shell clinging to the tree trunk or limb. If there are some types of cicadas that strip trees - I don't know about them.