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- From: "Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>
- To: Gardenwriters on Gardening <gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [gwl-g] FW: Cicadas Are Coming... Again
- Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 06:31:49 -0700
Title: FW: Cicadas Are Coming... Again Here's one to be aware of in writing columns.
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From: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Reply-To: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 06:46:00 -0400
To: ARS News subscriber <lonrom@hevanet.com>
Subject: Cicadas Are Coming... Again
STORY LEAD:
After 17 Years, the Cicadas Are Coming
___________________________________________
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Luis Pons, (301) 504-1628, lpons@ars.usda.gov
April 21, 2004
___________________________________________
After a 17-year wait, billions of large, noisy, winged, red-eyed
insects known as periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.) will soon emerge
from the ground, occupying large swaths of the eastern United States.
They'll overrun many yards, pelt windows, fly into people, clog storm
drains and basically wreak buggy havoc.
But entomologist Michael Schauff of the Agricultural Research Service's
(ARS) Systematic Entomology Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., has a
message: Remain calm. Although cicadas may give many people the creeps,
the bugs won't sting or bite, and they rarely damage plants.
According to Schauff, the cicada explosion will start in early-to-mid
May in parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, New Jersey, western North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia,
Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana and southern Michigan. Other states may see
them as well. This activity will peak between mid-May and mid-June, and
the insects will die off about four weeks after first emerging.
Schauff has good agricultural news as well: The cicadas pose little
threat to crops, although small or newly planted hardwood or fruit trees
and grape vines may need protection. That's because cicadas make small
incisions near the tips of tree branches, where they lay eggs. The
branch beyond the incisions often dies.
The 17-year cicada is known as Brood X (10), or the Big Brood. Other
broods have different cycles, and are not as intensely populated.
According to Schauff, the first sign of the cicada emergence will be
little mounds or mud turrets that look like miniature volcanoes around
the bases of trees. The insects emerge soon after.
Six to 10 weeks after eggs have been laid, nymphs will emerge, fall to
the ground, crawl into the soil and stay out of sight as they slowly
develop in cells attached to plant roots, subsisting on tree sap over
the next 17 years.
ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
agency.
___________________________________________
* This is one of the news reports that ARS Information distributes to
subscribers on weekdays.
* Start, stop or change an e-mail subscription at
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/subscribe.htm
* NewsService@ars.usda.gov | www.ars.usda.gov/news
* Phone (301) 504-1638 | fax (301) 504-1648
- [gwl-g] FW: Cicadas Are Coming... Again, Lon J. Rombough, 04/21/2004
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