Cicadas in garden on Tomatoes...

[MikeFIT]

Saw these guys on the underside of my tomato plants today. They appear to be dead but hanging on. They are like dry husks. I am assuming they are cicadas, but they look different than the cicadas I saw several years ago.. I am assuming they are harmless?

[Marlingardener]

You are right in calling them "dry husks". That is the husk that the cicada leaves behind after emerging. Not a problem in your garden, and quite harmless. However, children love to collect them!

[MikeFIT]

Great. Seems odd the that they are on underside of leaves. Do they stop there to feed before leaving their husks, or they are just hanging out?

[rainbowgardener]

They aren't feeding. Adult cicadas do eat some plant sap, but they aren't leaf chewers. They just need a safe spot. They are quite vulnerable while molting.

[applestar]

Yeah. The larvae are white and soft while they live underground and feed by sucking on tree roots, but when they are ready (I recently accidentally dug up a tan colored one that I suspect would be emerging this season), they come out and climb anything nearby to a height anywhere from knee high to overhead (I guess it depends on how energetic or lazy they are ) and pupate -- form a hard shell. Then they undergo their final metamorphosis, split the back of the shell and emerge. They then usually hang onto the back of the shell while they pump their soft crumpled wings full of fluid (just like butterflies), and when the wings are fully extended and dry, they fly off to find their first meal. If they are lucky enough to climb a tree or shrub they can drink from, they would, but I doubt that tomato plants are on their list.

[gumbo2176]

Funny this should turn up on the forum. Just a couple days ago I read on the net that this is going to be a big year for cicadas and the woman they were interviewing was touting how tasty they are. I'm from Louisiana and eat a lot of things to some folks would cringe at, but insects are not intentionally heading down my gullet.

[MikeFIT]

It's funny to see the 1/2 inch to one-inch diameter holes the came up through in the soil. It looks like someone went into the garden with a drill.

I feel bad for them, I added about 12 inches of soil onto the garden this year, so they had a long trek up..I guess that's why many of them were weak or dead.

I stopped filling the bird feeders 2 weeks ago so the birds can be good and hungry and eat them up. I have a lot of cardinals, blue jays, and some sort of turkey hawk/buzzards. Hopefully they have a taste for cicada...

[mattie g]

It's funny to see the 1/2 inch to one-inch diameter holes the came up through in the soil. It looks like someone went into the garden with a drill.

I feel bad for them, I added about 12 inches of soil onto the garden this year, so they had a long trek up..I guess that's why many of them were weak or dead.

I stopped filling the bird feeders 2 weeks ago so the birds can be good and hungry and eat them up. I have a lot of cardinals, blue jays, and some sort of turkey hawk/buzzards. Hopefully they have a taste for cicada...

Why? Cicadas don't do anything to trees or crops aside from the occasional damage to the tips of tree limbs where they lay their eggs.

There's nothing wrong with the birds eating them because their sheer numbers will ensure their propagation, but I don't see why folks would go out of their way to try to make sure more get eaten or killed in some way.

[MikeFIT]

I don't have anything against the Cicadas (although I am sure we can all agree they are chauvinistic and disrespectful toward women). I am not cheering their death, I just don't want them flying into my head and if the bird can feed on them, I'll save a few bucks on bird feed for the next few weeks.

[watermelonpunch]

I think the cicadas just like hanging upside down.
The only time I've ever seen any, or seen the shells, they were upside down.

This is one on our clothes line last year: