This is only my second go around with locusts and or cicadas which ever you call them. But the first time with hops. This will be the 5th generation of hops that are sprouting this year. Will the locusts eat them? Is this something I should be worried about?
They’re not locusts if you’re talking about the 17 year cicada hatch being talked about. If they were locusts, you’d probably need to be worried.
I was in Chicago when there was a 17-year cicada hatch. I believe, the adults can cause harm to sapling trees, since the females do scar branches when laying eggs. The adults also do feed on sap but I am pretty sure I remember it being tree sap.
I doubt they would bother vines like hops. I think they need woody branches for their eggs.
I am not expert, so Google around for more info, I am sure East Coast papers will have more and more articles in the coming weeks.
They’re big and harmless, they’re land on anything and hang out. One of the best memories I have of the 17-year hatch in Chicago land was waiting for a Metra train I saw a guy in a suit flip out when one landed on his neck. :lol:
Or you could try this too! :shock:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... May22.htmlCICADA BUZZ
By Linton Weeks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 23, 2004; Page D01
The return of the 17-year cicadas has Washington buzzing.
Good thing cicadas only come out every 17 years, because they also bring out the weirdness in us. To wit:
• Steve Marler is brewing up a 10-gallon batch of cicada-flavored ale this weekend at his home in Arlington. He’s been collecting the newly emerged and soft-shelled tenerals. “I’m planning on roasting them on the barbecue a little bit and throwing them in the mash with the grain,” he says. The result will be a high-alcohol brew with a malty taste. “The hops will probably hide any cicada flavor.”
Well. I will not be making anything out of them.
But in a hick town we call them locusts ha!
In any event, this is not the 17 year variety, unless it is a “special needs” version of them. My son was born in 1987 and they were either that summer or the next. He is 25 now so we have a few years to go.
I was in Chicago for the 17 year hatch a few years back as well. They are annoying as hell but virtually harmless. I remember the lobby of my office being full of them because they would land on people walking into the building. Guys in suits would walk in with 3, 4 or 5 of them attached to their back. Also, my secretary’s dog had to get its stomach pumped at the vet because it ate so many and got really sick (a few wont hurt a dog but she said they probably pumped pounds of the things out of its stomach).
Anyways, I am pretty sure the hops will be safe. They really do not damage a whole lot.
Also, as I am sitting here remembering that summer, my office started to smell like cicadas after a while from them getting sucked into the air intake vents on the outside of the building. It was really all pretty crazy.
I like cicadas, it’s the sound of summertime for me. Reminds me of playing outside with my friends as a kid.
I don’t really know. All the articles I’ve seen mention the 17-year brood. But I know there are also 13-year ones, annual one and maybe others.
That also reminds me I saw Cicada Killer Wasp getting a Cicada mid-air that year (2007).
There are different populations in different areas of the country. Those of us on the east coast in fact are getting the 17 year cicadas which were last here in '96. I hate the damn things.
[quote=“Llube”]Well. I will not be making anything out of them.
But in a hick town we call them locusts ha![/quote]
Which hick town are ya’ in? 
There are different populations in different areas of the country. Those of us on the east coast in fact are getting the 17 year cicadas which were last here in '96. I hate the damn things.[/quote]
Well Maryland and DC are on the east coast as well and my timeline correlates with the Washington Post article linked above that says they were last here in 2004. So we have a few years to go before the big one.
I saw a Cicada killer fly by me on a bike ride. The thing was massive and had a very big stinger. I about crapped my pants when I saw it zing by my head.
The last big cicada event on the East coast was Brood X. This is Brood 2… another 17 year cicada brood.
There are different populations in different areas of the country. Those of us on the east coast in fact are getting the 17 year cicadas which were last here in '96. I hate the damn things.[/quote]
Well Maryland and DC are on the east coast as well and my timeline correlates with the Washington Post article linked above that says they were last here in 2004. So we have a few years to go before the big one.[/quote]
Your dates, '87 & '04, jive with my recollections. I’m in NoVA and I was just telling my wife I thought the media needed to check their timeline on the cicada story.
You might want to take a look at the chart here
. There are different broods of cicadas. Not just the one you are remembering.
You might want to take a look at the chart here
. There are different broods of cicadas. Not just the one you are remembering.[/quote]
Gotcha. So I’m remembering brood X, “largest of the 17 year broods”, that would explain it. At least I have a couple more years for my cicada killer breeding program to flourish before the Xs are back!
I saw a Cicada killer fly by me on a bike ride. The thing was massive and had a very big stinger. I about crapped my pants when I saw it zing by my head.[/quote]
I see those things out on golf courses sometimes. The make homes in sand traps and are freaking massive. Although if my golf course iphone google identification was correct, they are not aggressive towards much. It said they were pretty much only interested cicadas and if you swat at them they will fly away. Then again, that’s what the internet said about them. I will avoid them at all costs.
