Cicadas emerging this spring

Cicadas emerging this spring

C1 3 abc 36's chelsea smith talked to an expert at u-k on what this means for central and eastern kentucky ### "17 year cicadas are going to be coming out of the ground in several different kentucky counties.

It will be billions of bugs."

You heard right....billions...wi th a 'b'....and, unlike annual cicadas... these will be brood x... a type of periodical cicada... that's been underground for years "these ones, they are red eyed, they're black body with orange on their winds, they are a little smaller, they come out earlier in the year."

They will come out in the masses in may and june...and make a lot of noise "they can get quite loud.

Over 100 decibels in some cases as they chorus."

Here's the good news in all of this...entomologist jonathan larson says areas along the ohio river will see the most in the state "louisville, covington, some of those are going to be the places that will see it the most.

Newport is another one.

If you wanted to go to a state park, big bone lick is supposed to be one of the hot spots."

However he says some will make it a little farther south "we'll see a little bit here and there.

There will be stragglers in some different counties."

He says cicadas are not harmful to humans or pets... they don't bite nor spread diseases... however they could harm some trees...when laying their eggs "the female cuts into the branch with her ovipositor, it's this sword like object, and when she does that she creates these little slits."

He says it's not a problem for big trees...but could be for young trees and fruit trees...but you can protect them with a net.

"we would recommend going out and buying netting that has holes that are smaller than half an inch, wrapping that around the tree leaving that on there for about 6 to 8 weeks."

Even though central and eastern kentucky will miss the worst of it this year...if you'll pardon the pun...we're not out of the woods just yet.

"we can wait until 2025 until lexington is going to see a big emergence" depending...that's something to look forward to or dread.

Chelsea smith... abc 36 news coming up next in