Should Tennesseans worry about cicadas?
No big swarm scheduled to emerge this season
In Tennessee, there’s no reason to get bugged about swarms of the 17-year cicadas, regardless of what you’ve seen on the internet.
If you’ve seen a few cicada exoskeletons around your yard, that’s about all you’re going to get this year, said Dan Cassidy, owner of The Bug Man pest control in Murfreesboro.
“You’re always going to have annual cicadas coming out,” Cassidy said, explaining that the annual cicadas are typically green with bulging black eyes. “But they are not in the swarm levels as the 17-year or 13-year cicadas.”
The 13-year cicadas won’t arrive until 2024. The last time they emerged was 2011. The 17-year cicadas that last emerged in 2004 will return in 2021, assured Rutherford County Agricultural Extension Director Anthony Tuggle.
However, there is an emergence of the 17-year brood, but in Virginia and the Carolinas.
Cassidy said climate differences cause the cicada swarms to occur in varying parts of the country.
“Just like termites and other bugs, cicadas are more in tune with nature and weather changes than we are,” Cassidy said.
The periodical species have the longest development cycle of any insects in the world. They stay in the ground until their cycle rouses them to emergence, Tuggle explained.
When they do arrive in late spring, the periodical cicadas are unmistakable. They are orange or brown with frightening red eyes — and the sound is “deafening,” Cassidy said.
The 13-year and 17-year broods also emerge by the thousands, their exoskeletons scattered about like fallen leaves or stuck to tree trunks.
When you see them in flight, “they land in your hair and fly around your vehicle.”
“There’s nothing you can do about them. You can’t spray for them. You just have to wait it out for four to six weeks,” Cassidy said. “It upsets a lot of weddings. So anybody doing a wedding next year, make sure you don’t do it during the swarms.” Even if they aren’t in large swarms, you’ll still hear the cicadas. Their chirping is common in wooded areas, where their song sweeps through the trees like a wave of sound. It’s a telltale sign of summer, Cassidy said.
And no matter which species and year the flying insects arrive, the periodical cicada swarms are not harmful to the environment. In fact, they serve as a food source for many creatures, Cassidy said.
Other pests emerging
There are other pests that will likely be much more bothersome than cicadas this year.
Termites are subterranean and come out of the ground looking for dead trees, he said, as well as bugging your house if the wood isn’t pressure treated. The termites will typically swarm March through May.
Typical summer bugs include ants and spiders, which become problematic in late summer and early fall.
Ants, which also swarm, don’t show up until the summertime in our region, Cassidy said. They are often difficult to treat, he noted, because they move around rapidly and can relocate an entire nest within a matter of hours.
You’re also likely to see pesky gnats in the summer, which swarm in large numbers.
Parasitic wasps will arrive in summer, too. They often swarm in groups of 100 to 200 at a time, hovering 2 feet or less above the ground, but they are
About cicada broods
According to the UT Institute of Agriculture, 15 broods of cicadas have been described by scientists and are designated by Roman numerals.
There are three 13-year cicada broods (XIX, XXII and XXIII) and 12 of the 17year cicada broods (I-X, XIII and XIV). Also, there are three distinct species of 17-year cicadas (M. septendecim, M. cassini and M. septendecula) and three species of 13-year cicadas (M. tredecim, M. tredecassini and M. tredecula).
In Tennessee, Brood XIX of the 13-year cicada had a spectacular emergence and is expected to reemerge in 2024. In 1987, Brood X of the 17-year cicada emerged across the state and did the same in 2004. Brood X is expected to reemerge in 2021. Brood X has the largest emergence of individuals for the 17-year cicada in the United States. Brood XXIII of the 13-year cicada emerged in May 2015.
harmless, he said.
These other flying insects don’t cause quite the audible disturbance as cicadas, though.
“When you have the huge swarms of cicadas, they are annoying and noisy,” Cassidy said.
Reach Nancy Degennaro at degennaro@dnj.com and follow her on Twitter @Nandegennaro. Keep up with restaurant news by joining Good Eats in the ‘Boro (and beyond) on Facebook.