• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Gardening Basics
    • Seed Starting
    • Composting Basics
    • Vegetable Gardening
    • Growing Fruit
    • Growing Herbs
  • Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
    • Vegetarian Meals
    • Salad Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Dinner Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
  • Books & Classes
    • Classes
    • Books
    • Books for Christian Herbalists
  • About
    • Writer Jeanne Grunert
    • Advertise
    • Awards and Accolades
    • Privacy Policy

Do the 17 Year Cicadas Hurt Gardens?

March 16, 2021 by Jeanne

Do cicadas hurt gardens? More specifically, does the 17-year cicada (Magicicada septendecim) eat garden plants? Will you have you protect your vegetable garden if you live in one of the affected states when Brood X emerges?

The 17-Year Cicada (Magicicada septendecim) or Brood X

Sleeping one to two feet below the surface of the soil is a strange bug-eyed creature’s nymphs. They greedily suck on the xylem fluid of deciduous trees, gathering nourishment to emerge once every 17 years to mate, lay eggs, and generally make a nuisance of themselves.

Magicicada septendecim, also called Pharaoh cicada, is the 17-year cicada the media has been talking about since January. The expected emergence of Brood X in 13 states has entomologists buzzing and gardeners worrying.

But are these strange creatures a threat? Do cicadas hurt gardens? Do they eat vegetable plants? Should you even bother planting a garden this year if these creepy looking bugs are expected?

Here are the facts about this amazing insect and how it may affect your garden.

cover of gardening book

Ready to grow a great garden this year?

Join the Home Garden Joy community and receive two FREE ebooks, weekly gardening tips, and much more.

Subscribe

* indicates required

What Is the 17 Year Cicada?

As the name suggests, it is an insect of the cicada family that emerges once every 17 years to mate. Millions, perhaps billons, of the large, red-eyed cicadas emerge at once in May and June in the affected areas. The adult males congregate and “sing” in a chorus to attract females for mating. The noise is deafening, a never-ending screech or high pitched hum that lasts four to six weeks until the mating period is over. Then, the females find the soft twigs of woody trees and cut a slit into a twig to lay their eggs.

a picture of the 17 year cicada
Katja Schulz from Washington, D. C., USA, Periodical Cicada (34795762186), CC BY 2.0

As the young enter the nymph stage, they move down into the soil near the roots of trees, where they feed on the xylem moving up the plant’s vascular system. Here they wait, feeding, growing, until their time arrives to emerge and continue the cycle.

Where the 17-Year Cicadas Are Found

a map showing the area where the periodic cicada emerges
Dmarshal; original author was user:Alfred (2006), Distribution magicicada usa fixed, CC BY-SA 4.0

The states where Brood X is expected in 2021 include:

  • Delaware
  • Georgia
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Kentucky
  • Maryland
  • Michigan
  • North Carolina
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • Ohio
  • Pennsylvania
  • Tennessee
  • Virginia
  • West Virginia
  • Washington, D.C.

Are Cicadas Harmful to Trees?

Cicadas can be a pest to orchards, especially when large broods, such as Brood X (the one expected in 2021) emerges in so many states at once. I have seen cicada damage on my own orchard trees, mostly the apple trees, and they can damage branches to the point of killing the branch. The female cicada has a unique organ that cuts a slit into the branch to deposit her eggs. These slits can allow moisture to enter the branch as well as microorganisms that carry diseases to the whole tree.

Although my own trees were significantly impacted by the last brood that emerged locally, we did not lose an entire tree to the cicada! Professional orchardists advise AGAINST spraying insecticide against the cicadas because there are so many of them that it would take massive amounts of spray to combat the cicadas, and potentially wipe out the local beneficial insects along with the cicadas. The damage they do, weighed against the damage done by spraying, is negligible, so most of us (myself included) will simply wait and see.

17 year cicada
I took this picture of a 17 year cicada on an apple tree when the last brood emerged on my farm.

Do Cicadas Hurt Gardens?

The answer is an absolute NO. They do not eat vegetable plants, like tomatoes, lettuce, or peppers. The adult cicadas do not feed on leaves. The nymphs feed on the vital fluids moving through the xylem tubes, the circulatory system of the plant that brings nourishment up to the leaves.

If you see insect damage among your vegetable plants this year, it is NOT the cicadas causing it!

Go Ahead and Plant Flowers, Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs

If I were starting a garden from scratch this year, I might wait to plant fruit trees if I lived in a state where Brood X is expected to emerge. But I would definitely go ahead and add other fruits, such as strawberries and small fruits like raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries to the garden.

As for vegetables and herbs? Definitely plant them! Cicadas do not hurt garden plants except during egg laying, and even then, they may disfigure a few branches of deciduous trees, but they will not eat your plants like a swarm of locusts.

Many people confuse cicadas with locusts, and I think that’s why they believe that cicadas will hurt their plants. The two insects have completely different life cycles and nutrients needs.

Cicadas Are Strangely Interesting Insects

Growing up on Long Island, New York, I was always fascinated with cicadas. Their chorus in the summertime alerted me that the peak of summer was at hand. Finding their shed exoskeletons in the garden piqued my curiosity and encouraged me to look more closely at the world around me.

During the last swarm of periodic cicadas, the noise gave me headaches! The “chorus” of males attracting mates was so loud I thought someone had saws going in a house nearby. The sound would rise and fall, however, in waves. After a few weeks, the cicadas were in the orchard, flying out at us anytime we walked by the trees. My dog had a great time jumping up and catching them.

Periodic cicadas are a fact of living in North America. I find them fascinating, and hope one day to hear an announcement of how they do know to tell time. What an amazing world we live in! I am glad that they do not hurt garden plants and will not eat my vegetable garden.

So, my gardening friends, relax – the cicadas are loud, annoying, fascinating, and a nuisance, but they won’t eat your vegetables!

Jeanne
Jeanne

Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.

Tweet
Share
Pin4
Share51
55 Shares

Filed Under: Insects & Pests, Vegetable Gardening

Follow me on social media

Like
Follow
Follow
Follow
Follow
Previous Post: « Vertical Gardening to Expand Your Space
Next Post: Gardening Education – Announcing the New Home Garden Joy Academy »

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • YouTube

Featured

logo of the american horticulture society

Home Garden Joy was featured by the American Horticultural Society on #plantchat.

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Writer Jeanne Grunert

cover of plan and build a raised bed garden

Find all my books on Amazon.com

Gardening Articles

Vegetable Gardening Tips and Tricks

strawberries are great for vertical gardening

Vertical Gardening to Expand Your Space

rosemary growing in containers for space saving gardens

5 EASY Space Saving Vegetable Garden Ideas

red and green lettuce in the garden

The Winter Garden – Enjoying the Seasons

Footer

a plate of Sicilian pasta sauce with cauliflower

Vegan Cauliflower Recipe: Sicilian Sauce

I adapted this vegan cauliflower recipe for Sicilian sauce to my family’s low salt, plant based diet – and got great results. It’s easy to make, tastes wonderful, and gives us another meatless meal for Lent. If you are a Christian seeking Friday dinner ideas for Lent, or simply have a head of cauliflower you…

Read More

A stack or portobello mushrooms with garnish

Marinaded and Grilled Portobello Mushroom Steaks

I made these marinaded and grilled portobello mushroom steaks last night for dinner and they came out delicious! Alongside a pot of fresh vegetable soup and crusty, homemade Italian bread, it was a feast worthy of a king – but 100% vegetarian. Let’s get cooking! What Is a Portobello Mushroom? Portobello mushrooms are large brown…

Read More

a woman holding a popover with the cream interior revealed and two other popovers on a plate

Best Popover Recipe

This is the best popover recipe ever! It was easy to make and turned out delicious popovers. This was my first time making popovers, and I can’t remember the last time I had one, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. As usual, I turned to my trusty Fannie Farmer 13th Edition Cookbook and found…

Read More

Christmas present under the tree

Christmas Gifts for Gardeners: Your Holiday Gift Guide

Are you looking for Christmas gifts for gardeners? This is your holiday gift guide to find the perfect present for that special gardener in your life! Ready? Let’s go shopping! Christmas Gifts for Gardeners: Your Holiday Gift Guide Maybe you’re searching for the perfect Christmas gifts for gardeners in your life. Or perhaps you are…

Read More

Copyright © 2023 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme