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ROTTLADY

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Cicadas are Coming! | State-by-State Gardening

Seeded on Wed May 4, 2011 7:26 PM EDT
Read ArticleArticle Source: http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/newslet
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Seeded by rottlady
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This spring many Southeastern gardeners will witness one of the rarest and most spectacular events of the insect world, an emergence of periodical cicadas. Periodical cicadas only occur in the eastern United States, and they only emerge as adults every 13 or 17 years. This year the Great Southern Brood of 13-year periodical cicadas, also known as Brood XIX, will emerge through much of the Southeast.

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rottlady

They say because of our recent cool temps that they may be a few weeks later for SW MO, but we should be hearing them soon!

There is a nice map included in the article.

  • 2 votes
Reply#1 - Wed May 4, 2011 7:28 PM EDT
etva

I'm thankful we aren't included in this batch. We had them in 2004 and they were annoying! LOL

  • 1 vote
Reply#2 - Wed May 4, 2011 9:50 PM EDT
rottlady

They can get annoying but I think it's cool that they only come out once every thirteen years. I would love to capture one when it emerges, the photographic possibilities are a challenge to say the least!

  • 3 votes
#2.1 - Wed May 4, 2011 10:14 PM EDT
etva

I've seen their holes, but never actually seen one emerge. We took pictures for school in 2004, but they were nothing spectacular:)

  • 1 vote
#2.2 - Wed May 4, 2011 10:45 PM EDT
SW Missouri Mule

I love the empy shells. The constant sound masks the ringing in my ear. And the cats love to put their paw on them and make them buzz. What more could you ask for?

  • 4 votes
#2.3 - Thu May 5, 2011 11:32 AM EDT
rottlady

I don't know, I think that covers it pretty well. *grins*

  • 4 votes
#2.4 - Thu May 5, 2011 12:16 PM EDT
Shannoscubie

I used to collect the shells and put them in my jewelry box when I was a little girl. I don't recall ever having any jewelry to put in there, though. Just cicada shells and other dead bugs. And sometimes rocks. Must have been terrifying for the little ballerina who lived in there.

Now I help my own little girl find them. I'm not really sure what she does with them or even whether I want to know, so long as she doesn't do like I did and put them in her pockets so they accidentally get run through the laundry.

  • 3 votes
#2.5 - Thu May 5, 2011 2:27 PM EDT
rottlady

Ha! Cute story, thanks for sharing.

  • 2 votes
#2.6 - Thu May 5, 2011 4:52 PM EDT
Shannoscubie

And thanks for the link to the chart! A friend of mine who lives in an area where they're about to swarm mentioned it to me a few weeks ago so it was glad to see the map and find out that I'm NOT in the red zone!

  • 3 votes
#2.7 - Thu May 5, 2011 5:02 PM EDT
rebelpeach

Must have been terrifying for the little ballerina who lived in there.

Heehee... You have a great sense of humor, Shannoscubie.

Cicadas are EVERYWHERE right now, here in Central Georgia. My boys and I are obliged to "save" ten or twenty off of the hot asphalt every time we go to the grocery store.

  • 1 vote
#2.8 - Wed May 11, 2011 8:29 PM EDT
rottlady

My boys and I are obliged to "save" ten or twenty off of the hot asphalt every time we go to the grocery store.

What a great thing! We still haven't had any yet, but I'm sure they will be here soon as it's really warmed up around here lately.

  • 1 vote
#2.9 - Wed May 11, 2011 8:37 PM EDT
Shannoscubie

Ours haven't come up yet. I find their night-songs soothing.

  • 1 vote
#2.10 - Wed May 11, 2011 9:26 PM EDT
Shannoscubie

My boys and I are obliged to "save" ten or twenty off of the hot asphalt every time we go to the grocery store.

I only save ladybugs. Or the spiders I judge to be harmless-looking. And by "save" I mean either ignoring them or capturing them and flicking them off the back deck rather than smashing them with my shoe.

Cicadas, I pretty much ignore. Which my cat probably appreciates. What IS it about cats and cicadas?!

  • 3 votes
#2.11 - Wed May 11, 2011 9:29 PM EDT
rebelpeach

If I could figure out how to post a video, I would. The noise is darn near deafening in some areas. They seem to congregate near wooded areas with water.....as well as the grocery store.

  • 1 vote
#2.12 - Thu May 12, 2011 8:32 AM EDT
rottlady

Here's a video of the sound.

  • 2 votes
#2.13 - Thu May 12, 2011 9:24 AM EDT
Reply
Augur Well

These little critters have always fascinated me, rottlady!

I don't remember the year, but but way back then when I was still a wee lad, we had an absolutely huge crop of them here spring out, they were simply everywhere! They were one of the first bugs that I leaned about that wouldn't gobble young Augur up for a collective smorgasbord. They still fascinate me to this day!

(*chirpchirpgrins*!)

  • 2 votes
Reply#3 - Thu May 5, 2011 7:25 AM EDT
rottlady

Same here Augur, the thing that amazes me the most is the fact that they stay in the ground for thirteen years before emerging to do their thing.

Thanks for stopping by!

  • 1 vote
#3.1 - Thu May 5, 2011 7:34 AM EDT
Reply
HollyKl

Good seed, rottlady. Cicadas are very interesting. But they can be very, very loud. We had them in the Chicago area a few years back now and the noise was incredible.

  • 2 votes
Reply#4 - Sun May 8, 2011 4:51 AM EDT
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