Kevin--
Remembering all this from 1986, when the 17-year cicadas hatched hereabouts.
No prob with the veggies. If you have young trees, you may want to protect
them with netting for six weeks or so after the cicadas emerge. After
emerging, the cicadas basically just want to mate and lay eggs, which they
prefer to do in twigs. If the trees are young and small, the egg-laying
from so many cicadas could do enough damage to admit secondary fungal
infections.
When the eggs hatch, the larvae drop to the ground and burrow in, and they
feed on the roots of the tree/shrub for the next 16 years. Again, a young
tree probably can't handle that much blood-sucking. Mature trees won't be
damaged.
Cicadas don't lay their eggs on annual veggies. The only damage we observed
was in areas that were cleared when we bought the farm but apparently were
tree-covered at the time of the last cicada hatching. The cicadas came up
so hot and heavy that they actually uprooted newly transplanted seedlings.
(In Washington, DC, they came up through asphalt laid down where trees had
stood 17 years earlier.)
If your land has been cleared for at least 17 years, you may have no
problem at all. If it was forested back then, get yourself some ear plugs.
Like annual cicadas, the 17-year guys are music-makers. And there are a lot
more of them.
Cass Peterson
www.flickerville.com
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