# Help with Cicadas



## rtracy (Aug 16, 2010)

I live in the Nashville, TN area, and we are dealing with cicadas. What is the best way to treat them...on the trees and in the ground. We are seeing holes around trees. A few years ago they really hurt some of our trees and we actually lost a large Leland cypress tree. I've bought a chemical called Bifen I/T, but the instructions are hard to understand. Thanks in advance!


----------



## Ron6519 (Mar 28, 2007)

Import cicada killer wasps into the area. Fascinating insects. They burrow underground to build a nest. They carry the cicada to the nest and bring it underground.
These are big wasps. They fly around in July and are gone by the end of the month.
They don't sting as far as I know. I cut the lawn every week and walk through them all the time.


----------



## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

Wait till winter and they are gone for 13 more years.


----------



## Ron6519 (Mar 28, 2007)

Colbyt said:


> Wait till winter and they are gone for 13 more years.


On Long Island, NY they come back every year.


----------



## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

Wow! I would have to try and kill them. Here we have 13 year and 17 year broods. There are often a few confused bugs around from time to time but not enough to matter. It gets real bad when the 13 and 17 years cycles hit in the same. It is almost Biblical.


----------



## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

Eat em, they are supposed to be pretty good:wink:


----------



## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

For those that have never seen the critter, Here is a pic I took Sunday morning. The wings lose the iridescence when they dry.

New-Born by Colbyt69, on Flickr

My wife saw this one coming out of the shell. By the time I found the camera and changed the battery this was starting to dry.


----------



## funflyer (Dec 5, 2014)

I grew up in Phoenix and now live up north where Cicadas are just a fact of life in the summer. There's nothing you can do to get rid of them permanently but when they're in a small-ish tree there are ways to make them fly off to somewhere else. It doesn't take much to scare them away. I used to take a 2x4 and smack the tree trunk which would work for the majority of them. Another good way is to use a strong stream of water from your hose to wash down the tree. One word of caution, wear a long sleeve shirt, a big hat and safety goggles as they will piss all over you as they fly off. Normally Cicadas don't just fly around looking for a tree to suck on, they will usually stay in the trees that they climbed onto when they emerged from the ground. These pictures are of one that flew into my workshop today, much larger than the ones we had in Phoenix and they have a much louder buzz.


----------



## nap (Dec 4, 2007)

Small gauge shotgun. Guaranteed to eliminate any one you see.


----------



## ChuckF. (Aug 25, 2013)

chrisn said:


> Eat em, they are supposed to be pretty good:wink:


True. Maybe teach your dog to eat them too.

https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/if-you-cant-beat-em-eat-em


----------

