A: I recall back in 2021, Brood X, the largest brood of 17-year cicadas, made headlines in the Ohio River Valley area. Periodical cicadas appear every 13 or 17 years, and guess what? This is our year for Brood XIX - a 13-year group! The reason this year is notable though is because our neighbors to the north are also due. Brood XIII, a 17-year cicada group, will plague them at almost the same time we’ll be experiencing Brood XIX. Emergence is expected to begin around early to mid-May.

Plant as you normally would this spring! Younger, more tender plants could be susceptible to injury or death by cicadas during oviposition, the period where the female lays eggs in stems and branches. Entomologists ask that you not use pesticides to deter them. They are not harmful to humans and aren’t even around for that long. Nature has a way of keeping them in check, by way of the cicada killer wasp and a parasitic fungus.

While the sounds and the swarms may be alarming to some, don’t buy into the hype that this phenomenon is something to get stressed about. Sit back and enjoy the show this summer!

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