MrFancyPlants
Omono
Cicada(it’s ok to) be climbing on my tree?
Knock knock. Who’s there? Cicada.
- Thread starter MrFancyPlants
- Start date
rorror
Yamadori
In the first month they won't eat that much.
But after that month... they can destory entire branches or tree's itself.
picture of egg laying into a branch
But after that month... they can destory entire branches or tree's itself.
picture of egg laying into a branch
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MrFancyPlants
Omono
Should I net all my trees? How do the eggs get back down to the ground after they hatch?
leatherback
The Treedeemer
Gorgeous animals!
I would suspect Sir Newton would have something to do with that
Dav4
Drop Branch Murphy
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I'm pretty sure they hatch on the tree and migrate down the tree and into the soil as larvae to begin their 17 year cycle.
MrFancyPlants
Omono
I think that guy has been dead a while, not sure he has any agency in the matter.
but at least they don’t burrow under the bark or anything, right?
MrFancyPlants
Omono
Do they eat the branches or just the roots when they get down there?
leatherback
The Treedeemer
Isn't he the reason why things fall from trees to the ground though?
leatherback
The Treedeemer
lol, and there I was hoping to have a chance to see this in real life one day! Missed it by a few months in Australia once.
rorror
Yamadori
misfit11
Omono
Just read this crazy NPR story about this fungus that infects Cicadas. Their genitals fall off and they get really horny while high off of the amphetamine it produces. Alternatively, they go on a psilocybin trip. Mother Nature is weird!
www.npr.org
A Fungus Is Pushing Cicada Sex Into Hyperdrive And Leaving Them Dismembered
A fungus called Massospora produces an amphetamine in some cicadas and makes them lose control. Cicadas that are infected lose their genitals — and they don't even notice.
www.npr.org
just.wing.it
Deadwood Head
I wonder how many millions were funneled into that important study....Just read this crazy NPR story about this fungus that infects Cicadas. Their genitals fall off and they get really horny while high off of the amphetamine it produces. Alternatively, they go on a psilocybin trip. Mother Nature is weird!
A Fungus Is Pushing Cicada Sex Into Hyperdrive And Leaving Them Dismembered
A fungus called Massospora produces an amphetamine in some cicadas and makes them lose control. Cicadas that are infected lose their genitals — and they don't even notice.
JudyB
Queen of the Nuts
I would net any trees that are important to you. We don’t have them yet, I imagine very soon here. I have netting that I will deploy as soon as they start up.
penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
They started up here this week. Last night was the first song of the cicada that was noticeable. It is going to rain tomorrow with showers tonight. That means many many more will emerge. In moderation I think the whole thing is really cool. It will be a harvest fest for birds and small mammals. Cicadas really help aerate the soil and the little damage they do to branch tips is well within reason for all of the good they do. They have been venerated in China for thousands of years. I love any kind of insect that doesn't view me as dinner.
Nature is awesome.
Nature is awesome.
Forsoothe!
Imperial Masterpiece
The prefer branches 1/4 to 1/2 inch diameter. Most of the branches where eggs are laid will die.
Tieball
Masterpiece
The live Cicada also make a horrendously loud noice. Very distinctive. And they wail that noice for several seconds. They are quite fast flying around. They are further north than the map shows though.
Tieball
Masterpiece
Cicadas....this is interesting. How many? If you see one.....there’s probably many, many more you don't see.
“In maybe a third of a square foot of dirt, the University of Maryland entomologists find at least seven cicadas -- a rate just shy of a million per acre. A nearby yard yielded a rate closer to 1.5 million.
And there's much more afoot. Trillions of the red-eyed black bugs are coming, scientists say.
Within days, a couple weeks at most, the cicadas of Brood X (the X is the Roman numeral for 10) will emerge after 17 years underground. There are many broods of periodic cicadas that appear on rigid schedules in different years, but this is one of the largest and most noticeable. They’ll be in 15 states from Indiana to Georgia to New York; they’re coming out now in mass numbers in Tennessee and North Carolina.”
“In maybe a third of a square foot of dirt, the University of Maryland entomologists find at least seven cicadas -- a rate just shy of a million per acre. A nearby yard yielded a rate closer to 1.5 million.
And there's much more afoot. Trillions of the red-eyed black bugs are coming, scientists say.
Within days, a couple weeks at most, the cicadas of Brood X (the X is the Roman numeral for 10) will emerge after 17 years underground. There are many broods of periodic cicadas that appear on rigid schedules in different years, but this is one of the largest and most noticeable. They’ll be in 15 states from Indiana to Georgia to New York; they’re coming out now in mass numbers in Tennessee and North Carolina.”
MrFancyPlants
Omono
I’m not to far from university of Maryland in the middle of brood X in a neighborhood that was developed back in the late ‘40s. We are seeing a lot of them. This morning when I woke up you could hear the cicada chorus clearly from inside the house.
leatherback
The Treedeemer
WOUld be interesting to see whether the shrubs and trees do better this year than in other years, with such a reduction in root munching capacity. Bumper crops? Or evened out by the damage the egg laying does.
