They’re back. And IPM’s Matt Frye is here to tell you about it.
For those who witnessed the last bumper crop of 17-year cicadas back in 1996, it was nigh unforgettable. And it about to happen again. In fact, maps going back 100 years track hatches of the 17-year cicada and its cousin, the 13-year cicada.
If you live in downstate New York, western Connecticut, New Jersey, and points south you can’t miss them — billions of big buzzy bugs with stoplight-red eyes clambering up from the soil and into trees to cast off their old skins.
Once they’ve unfolded their shiny, brand-new wings, they’re ready to cruise, mate, lay eggs, and then — it’s curtains.
The eggs that hatch will spend the next 16+ years as nymphs burrowing through the soil, sucking root sap for nourishment. Until 2030, that is, when it happens again.