Large Scale Central

Cicada protection

A couple years ago, when various other remedies didn’t deter deer & groundhogs from eating our most expensive little trees, I made up some cages for their protection. They’re just made of galvanized black-plastic-coated wire fencing, no big deal. At first I was going to only have them out during the winter, when the critters were hungry enough. But since we’ve gotten so used to them, they’ve become invisible, and I’ve not put them in storage yet.

They seemed to work well, but the groundhog (I’m pretty sure) was able to reach through the bars last winter. I then wished I’d done the baskets with the 1" version of this fencing material (my openings are 2"x3"). So something had to be done.

Because of that, and in anticipation of the coming cicadapocalypse of 2021, we decided to upgrade the baskets with plastic mesh. It’s also black, and has about 3/8" square openings. The wrapping took a couple weekend days, because the mesh goes everywhere, and has to be secured to the cage in many places. I used mini black cable ties, and just finished the last one (very tedious!) I also expanded about half the cages to give the trees a couple inches of clearance.

I suppose there’s a risk of the groundhog (Albert) of snagging himself, so I’ll be on the watch for that next winter. Otherwise, I hope this’ll keep the adult female cicadas off of the “baby trees” (as my wife always calls them). For the trees that Albert and the deer hate, we’ll drape the mesh directly over them and probably wire-tire them to their trunks.

If I were to do this again, I’d consider the 1" fencing as I mentioned, and/or a black aluminum window screen product such as this, which would be a lot easier to wrap around the cages I think. But it would be darker to look at probably.

Anyone else doing anything to prepare for cicadageddon? Beyond stocking up on toilet paper? :wink:

Cliff

Cliff;

This may be frivolous, but thought I would mention it anyway. We once had a cat who injured his paw, and the vet had to bandage it. That cat would not leave the bandage alone, so I called the vet to ask what to do. The vet said, “Put some Tabasco sauce on it, and he will leave it alone.” I did. and he stopped bothering the bandage. I just wonder whether spicing up the shrubs would disagree with the cicadaean pallet. Probably not cost effective.

My 2 pennies, David Meashey

Curious as to why you think/know there will be a cicada apocalypse next year?i would expect 17 years after the apocalypse that is 2020.

Pete Lassen said:

Curious as to why you think/know there will be a cicada apocalypse next year?i would expect 17 years after the apocalypse that is 2020.

You have to be a cicada specialist to work it out. Google reports that 2020 is a 17-year cicada event starting in the south. I do recall in MD that we had 13-year cicadas that came up every 7 years. Or was it 7-year cicadas every 13 years? Anyway, it’s complicated!

Turns out the invasion I’ve heard of affects only 15 states. Some articles:

Brood X

Billions of cicadas expected in spring of 2021

Cicada Mania