Brood X

@subdood_ky_z6b
You may not have the big brood this year.
Google the emergence maps.
These are approximate , can vary locally.

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One year during the big emergence , I hired a bulldozer / operator to make some roads around the farm.
Clearing some brush around fields etc.
when he would hit a small bush , hundreds would fly up.
Those cicadas would clog up the radiator on the machine.
Causing a lot of down time to clean.
I remember the guy running it, had a handkerchief over his face.
He stopped the machine , got off , just trembled, shook all over.,
Said he could not stand them flying in his face anymore ,
Said he would come back when they were gone.
That took several weeks.

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They normally will lay eggs in pencil size limbs. Younger trees are probably more to be concerned about as this boring into the limbs will weaken them.

Apples and pears heal for the most part but can break easier if too much stress on them. Years later they will recover for the most part. That has been my experience.

Stone fruits are probably the ones that suffer most and will be noticed were sap tends to ooze.

Some say this is gods way of pruning.

For me the strongest memory is all the damage on the apples, but everything got demolished except maybe the vines and the figs I can’t remember any damage on.

Their favorite spots to lay eggs is on the bottoms of large pencil-sized branches, and not too far out if it is a long shoot - more toward the base. My first plan in this round is to put Surround on thick there. Since it is on the bottom side the rain won’t wash it off as well. If that is not working I’ll have to think of some other plan. I only have a couple new trees and I might wrap masking tape or some such on the sensitive spots on them. If the trees do get damaged, on the older trees I pruned off some right away but on the young trees I would wait until the following winter as it sets back growth too much if you prune it all off.

One thing to warn you about: first they emerge and fly, and you think you are safe as they are in the tall trees. But they are mating and once that is done they look everywhere to lay the eggs. So, the time to have the protection down is right after the mating commences.

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Will tanglefoot work to prevent them from climbing tree’s, or do they fly onto them? Anyone try nets with success?

They fly. :fearful:
Nets would be the best way to protect your trees for sure if you can enclose the canopy entirely - top, bottom, etc…no openings.
I think I am safe this year in Middle TN but 2024 will be emergence of XIX I think it is, which was apocalyptic previously.

Maps are telling me I will see brood x in Dauphin county. I have 30 fruit trees ranging from 2 to 6 years old and 11 more coming this spring. Im honestly kind of frightened.

Sometime about then, I took a motorcycle trip through southern Indiana. I would ride under some trees, they would be carrying on in the canopy, and I would be thinking something had gone wrong with my bike because the sound would come and go. I camped at Turkey Run State Park and heard them in the morning without realizing what they were. I looked for fossils on both sides of Lake Monroe and was really uncomfortable with their noise. I ate lunch at Paoli, and they were all over the trees on the courthouse lawn. Yes, unless you’ve lived through a Plague of Locusts, you have no idea!

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This topic had me sweating - sounds like the things can cause serious damage. Fortunately, Brood X does not exist in the part of NY where I live. Good luck to all that have to contend with them!

Pulled this from one site, looks like we should be okay in NE KY, but looks like west of I-65 should be on the lookout.

  • Kentucky counties: Boone, Breckenridge, Bullitt, Carroll, Daviess, Gallatin, Grayson, Henry, Jefferson, La Rue, McLean, Muhlenberg, Nelson, Ohio, Oldham, Trimble
  • Kentucky places: Big Bone Lick State Park, Covington, Dayton, Dry Ridge, Florence, Ft. Thomas,

Here is a map, it’s showing we might get it, but folks in south IN, west KY, most of MD, southwest OH, east TN, and southeast PA are in for it.

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And don’t forget us Virginians… last time around I was cleaning up my sidewalk with a snow shovel, scooping up 50 or so at a time when it was at its worst. It was hard to walk anywhere without feeling the occasional crunch under your feet, but of course, you couldn’t hear the crunch itself over the incessant drone.

Besides your trees, watch your pets. I know the vets around here did a lot of business of working on pets with impacted bowels from all of the exoskeletons bunching up inside them. Just remind fido, “everything in moderation.”

I’ll try the surround on apples, peach, pear and persimmons. t I’m wondering how much they might love my romance cherries with all those smaller twigs. I’m hoping they won’t attacl all my potted figs, but at least they grow so fast they’ll be okay if I need to prune off a lot of damaged wood.

I’m thinking of sewing some big net socks to put over my smaller trees. Besides mosquito type netting, I was wondering if this stuff might work. The holes are .3 inches, so I think that should be small enough…
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ML51ZNZ?pf_rd_r=GMG07GT8096X81VMA827&pf_rd_p=5ae2c7f8-e0c6-4f35-9071-dc3240e894a8

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I have ten apples that I grafted that are potted up. I was planning on planting them in a couple months. Now I’m wondering if I should wait until the fall. Judging by the maps I’m seeing, it looks like we might be okay, but still…

Yeah, you may be on the cusp of the heavy outbreak. When did you have the last one?

I would just plant in fall. I will do the same.

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2004 was our last brood X invasion. Last year as I was digging around the yard I was finding plenty of them underground that looked almost full size. I’m just outside DC, so I know I’ll get them like last time, but maybe in southern or western parts of the state they’ll escape the worst.

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Don’t you mean plant out?

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Well, you’re due then. Hopefully it won’t be too bad.

Yes, Thank You

Im in Florence so its not looking great for me.
I remember them last time and it was something ill never forget. They were everywhere and the sound was deafening.
Im going to turn one of these into a Cicada-Suit just to be able to step outdoors.

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You’re not too far from me, we’re about 100mi up river, hope we miss it.

But think of all the cicada burgers and tacos you will have! Mmmm…

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Whew! Looks like they’re mostly gonna miss me, over here in Christian Co., KY.
I remember a mass emergence, here… seems like it was maybe 1996?
The constant hum sounded like something from a 1950s space-alien science-fiction movie.
I had a little single-string Echo grass/weed trimmer… the ‘whir’ that twirling string emitted must have been on a wavelength similar to that of the male cicadas… every time I’d fire that sucker up, the female cicadas would MOB me!

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