Here's the info from OSU...

Here is a link that might be useful: OSU cidada info

They make me insane with the noise, positively homicidal by the end of the season, but I've got pretty sensitive ears.

The bother some people because they are big clumsy flyers and constantly fly into you. Think of something even more aerodynamically unsound then a bumble bee. I think the creepier thing is finding all the shells around the yard as they emerge and molt and fly off.

My cat absolutely loved them. We had a basement courtyard right off the street the last time they hit Cincinnati, and the dead cicadas collected in huge numbers. At that concentration, the buggers smell like tuna fish. He also enjoyed popping them in his mouth. Not to eat them, not even to bite them, he just seemed to enjoy the feeling of them buzzing his tongue. But then, he was an odd cat.....

I try to remind myself of the Greek story about the cicada. It started with a man who was so in love with singing that the gods turned him into a cicada, and all he did for his (albeit brief) life was sing and have sex.

Nice story. But I still hate cicadas.

In Cincinnati, 2004 is the Year of the Cicada. That's right,those horrible looking -- and noisy -- insects are about to rise out of the ground after their 17-year sleep.

Every 17 years, this particular brood -- Brood X, which is unique to Greater Cincinnati and doesn't tend to strike the rest of Ohio -- emerge from hibernation and take wing. That's correct, they fly. And it gets better. They arrive by the billions. That's Billions with a B. Best guess is the third week of next May (a wetter spring may encourage them to come up a week early). You'll wake up and find your front yard poked full of escape holes. Then, the annoying pests will stick around for the better part of the summer, coating white cars so they appear black, getting stuck in your hair, cramming up office ventilation systems and -- seriously now -- requiring you to use your windshield wipers even when it's NOT raining.

By way of example, the swarming will get so bad that the Cincinnati Park Board is now requiring brides to sign a cicada release form before the park district will rent out its facilities for late May and June 2004 weddings. Outdoor weddings, picnics, and outdoor functions of all sorts will all be trashed by the loathsome creatures -- dive bombing the potato salad, strafing the salami sandwiches, and generally buzzing you nuts.

The noise from the periodical cicadas -- colored brown, with bulging red eyes and veins interspersed through wispy fragile wings -- can be overwhelming. The males and females form a chorus during mating calls, shrieking to each other, reminding each other that in a few months, their lives are over.

The cicadas are in a rush, knowing they only have four to six weeks to mate before dying. The phenomena prompted Cincinnati Enquirer editorial cartoonist Jim Borgman to draw a now famous cartoon of two cicadas in a bar: "It all comes down to this, Ernie," one is telling the other. "We've got to get lucky tonight or it's all over."

The good news is these annoying cicadas are totally harmless,outside of the occasional report of a traffic accident in 1987 caused when the things flew into a motorist's wide open mouth. Yuck.

The periodical cicada doesn't sting or bite. It doesn't hurt trees. Its body grows to the size of a human thumb as it feeds on plant juices. And they're not to be confused with 7-year locusts. The locusts are related to the grasshopper family. The cicada is in a genus all its own.

The infant cicadas live eight inches under the ground. Short of digging up your entire yard (and that doesn't affect all your neighbor's yards), you can't do anything about them.

Your options for 2004:

1. TAKE A VACATION -- Use up all your vacation time in May and June. You won't have to travel far to escape this regional outbreak.

2. TIGHTEN UP THE HOUSE -- These creepy-crawlies are huge, but they still manage to excel at squirming into the slightest cracks between screens or under the front door.

3. ESTABLISH A CLEANUP STATION -- The rules for May and June should be that all outdoor clothing is kept in the garage. Change into indoor clothing there. Inspect the outdoor clothing, as cicadas tend to cling to the back of shirts and jackets.

4. DON'T LOCK YOURSELF INTO OUTDOOR EVENTS -- Defer the family's traditional Memorial Day picnic until later in the summer. Don't book parties at outdoor venues. Reconsider signing up for that charity golf tournament in May or June. And this may not be the summer to install an outdoor pool.

5. LOOK FOR WORKSHOPS -- The Cincinnati Zoo, the College of Mt. Joseph's entomology department, and the city and county park districts all provide helpful advice in dealing with the pest.

6. BE CAREFUL WHEN USING A WEEDWACKERS -- Some brands create a sound resembling a cicada call, and you'll find a confused swarm flying at you.

7. CLEAN YOUR AIR CONDITIONING UNIT -- Clean the screen on your AC unit weekly.

8. CONSULT PSYCHIATRIC HELP -- If your fear of these swarms developed into a phobia that traps you inside the house, seek help.

9. KEEP A SENSE OF HUMOR -- The last time around, Mayor Charlie Luken declared a day "Squash 'Em Day in Cincinnati." The zoo and local restaurants began offering cicada roasts and cicada recipes.

10. WAITER, THERE'S A FLY IN MY SOUP -- You want to think twice about eating at any restaurant's patio or outdoor dining facility.

There are some 2,400 certified species of cidada living around the world, mostly in the dry lands. The cicadas of North America, the ones with the red eyes, are labeled genus "Magicicada."

The females will lay their eggs in trees (explaining the sight of "cicada trees," branches which are totally plastered with the creatures). When the youngsters hatch, they take a long drop to the soil and burrow into the ground.

Immature cicadas aren't really sleeping when they go underground for 17 years. They tunnel through the ground and draw water out of tree roots. It's a messy story of larval skins and shedding exoskeletons, and you really don't want to know.

How does the cicada's internal time clock, its biological alarm clock as it were, operate on such an efficient 17-year cycle? Experts suggest the insects actually keep a mental record of the changes in seasons, from winter to summer each year.

I'd say that's pretty definitive!

The only other thing I'd add is -- they're not bad fried in tempura batter...

And that cicadas do damage young trees during their brief odyssey above ground. The female adults use their ovipositor to rip an opening in the bark of twigs and young branches in order to lay their eggs. This will result in many branch ends dying. Newly planted trees will suffer the most from this, as they are already trying to recover from the stress of transplanting. Older established and mature trees will suffer aesthetic disfigurement until the dead branch ends break and fall off. When you see the last 12" or so of tree branches with dead leaves hanging on in late summer/fall this year, you'll know what you're looking at. I still have photos of Spring Grove Cemetery in this condition from 1987.

Thanks everyone! It shoudl be an interesting experience for this transplant from NW Ohio.

Are these Cicada's coming Columbus way. I haven't heard too much about it around here. I looked on the map from OSU & it looks mighty close.

Anyone know/heard?

...Beverly

Anyone remember Snappy Tomato Pizza's alternative, Snappy Cicada Pizza? LOL!

As far as I know, and from my memory, Brood X doesn't extend much outside I-275. Those of us who are lucky enough to live in places such as Fairfield, Liberty Twp., Westchester, Mason, Deerfield Twp., etc. will escape the scourge. Kings Island, experts say, will be safe from the invasion.

17 years ago I lived in Deer Park, which is about 30 min. drive northeast of the city center. We had a few, but it wasn't painfully annoying till we drove south to Norwood, Oakley, etc. Clifton was an absolute madhouse of cicada mayhem.

I think you're right, pkock. During that invasion, my parents lived in Kennedy Heights, out near you in Deer Park. From what I remember it was much better at their place than mine in Mt. Auburn!

I would also like to add that perennials and smaller shrubs may be affected by this mass invasion. When they showed up 17 years ago at my house, which is about 5 miles south of Cincinnati, they hung onto everything. They killed rhododendrons, azaleas, etc., just with their sheer weight.

I live in an old established neighborhood, about 100 years old, and with old established trees. These types of neighborhoods are typically hit harder than any new developments. I would imagine this is because anything newer than 17 years probably had all the cicadas excavated out of the ground.

I have a small cut flower business, so this is especially troublesome to me. I am going to plant a few things and a few things are going in late so hopefully they won't be too tall to hang onto, but I may regret planting anything at all.

Needless to say, I am not looking forward to this at all.

Sharon

Thanks Geeky!

6. BE CAREFUL WHEN USING A WEEDWACKERS -- Some brands create a sound resembling a cicada call, and you'll find a confused swarm flying at you.

I have visions now of edging my lawn and being attacked by a bunch of horny bugs. I've had worse offers I suppose.

Rats!

A map in today's Dispatch shows Brood X's territory.

It veers from Cincinnati to Dayton -- then swerves east to include all of Columbus.

Sigh. It's going to be a long summer.

Well Alison, if they come to the swap...hope they bring a dish to pass..(*giggle*).

Darn that nature, sometimes. Nothing to be done about it.

..Beverly

Geekygardener, you're right on except.....only the males make noise, which is a good thing. Imagine if both sexes made noise!

The news said they will be here in Columbus, too.

Does anything eat these? Birds?

Everything eats them. Their survival scheme is to show up in such large quantities that their preditors get so full they can't eat them all. They are estimating 5 billion. There are actually recipies for them online (www.cincinnati.com has a Cicada watch section). I've read that they taste like asparagus.

From what I have read most of the activity is centered around the cincinnati area. THe last invasion had them emerging at 100's per square foot in some areas.

Is it wrong that I am actually looking foward to it?

FIVE BILLION...yikes!!!! This will be something to behold.

..Beverly

Moosedog I think it is wrong.... I bet your a boy. ;) Something about Boys and cicadas...

I spotted borrowing mounds under a pine yesterday. I don't know if it was my imagination or what, but I swore the ground felt bumpy while I was mowing!

A few cicadas don't bother me, but billions do! That's just too darn many! 17 years ago, I didn't cut grass... now I do.... what will that be like? Yuck. 17 years ago, I didn't have a garden ... now I do ... I'm not even going to want to tend to it. ;(

I had heard that even the birds get tired of eating them.

They are definitely... an experience. And that's always cool.

It's a pity my cat didn't live to see them again. He loved them the last cycle; thought they were the best toys ever invented.

Will they be emerging all summer? Or, do they emerge at one time? I am suppose to attend an outdoor wedding in August...will the cicadas be joining us?

...Beverly

This will be my first experience with the billions of cicadas also, from what I have heard, I will not be enjoying this either.
Happy Gardening,
Chris

More Brood X info...

Here is a link that might be useful: brood X info OSU article

They will be around for about 6 weeks starting middle to end of May. Your August wedding should be clear of the bugs.

Yes I am I guy... but how often does something like this happen in our own back yard? I mean this is a 4 or 5 times in a life time event. ;)

I was planting some summer bulbs last week. In one shovel scoop I found more the 15 of the nymphs.

Alison,your cat story made me laugh out loud!
I am making a special trip to Cincy and KY in late May to experience the cicada spectacle.The noise can be overwhelming but there's something very cool about the raw power of Nature.And it's kind of humbling to know that humans have little control over this "plague" of insects.

So far we have seen a dozen or so here in Anderson Twnsp.
Lift a pot and there they are, still light tan in color.
W/ the increased temps they may well pop THIS weekend.

Watch out for pets overeating on them as they can cause stomach distress.
Not dangerous just a mess when the come back up! lol

Last time our son was in UC Hospital during the hatch.
They used brooms and blowers to clear out the parking garage.
At times they were 6" deep on the stairwells.

Have fun and watch tender young trees!

Ric

Thanks Ric for letting me know what I'm in for when I go to work every day! Guess they got lucky with all the Hospital Week outdoor activities earlier this week.

PAM

Here's a link to the other Cicada thread here on OH Valley Gardening. This thread is for reporting sightings and/or experiences w/cicadas in 2004.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cicada News Thread