#Cicada locust tv#
#Cicada locust free#

Minnesota doesn’t even have periodical cicadas. They just emerge far less often, and when they do, their numbers can be quite large, causing people to think they are a swarm or, yes, a plague of locusts. Like annual cicadas, periodical species also spend a good deal of their lives underground. And that’s where we get our misguided ideas about the 17-year locust plague. Periodical cicadas have a 13- to 17-year life cycle. They just spend the rest of that time underground, so we don’t see them. True to their name, annual cicadas show up every year, though their life cycle is usually several years longer. There are two types of cicadas, annual and periodical.

#Cicada locust tv#

Locusts are the critters that swarm, sometimes to the point of causing actual natural disasters and earning them a bad rap in the Bible, books and a fair number of sci-fi films and TV shows. Locusts, however, are a type of grasshopper, while cicadas are related to crickets - the latter connection is far less obvious when you look at photos. What! I know, but it’s true, and the reason we get all confused about this is probably that both insects do behave in similar ways. And boy did I learn a lot.įirst off-cicadas and locusts are completely different insects. But lacking any kind of useful answer for folks, I looked stuff up. Now, I’ve of course heard of the 17-year cycle of locusts, which I thought were the same thing as cicadas. Others who have thought the same have emailed to ask if I think this is one of those 17-year cycles where a huge swarm of them comes out of the ground to mate and wreak havoc on crops, or whatever it is they do when there’s a whole bunch of them. I haven’t been able to find a source to prove it, but by the sound of it, I think we’ve got more cicadas this year than usual. Pinching those delicate shells between our fingers, my friends and I would march them around like we did our Barbies, acting out whatever we were playing that day. Their buzzing, which I love, was pretty much the soundtrack to my entire childhood.īut what I enjoyed, even more, was playing with the alien-like exoskeletons that cicadas shed and leave stuck to just about every surface in sight. I grew up in Phoenix where there are a lot more cicadas than we have here in Minnesota. So how about we spend a few minutes sorting this mess out.

If you’re like me, and probably a zillion other people, what you think you know about these two critters is all mixed up. OK, now let’s get down to talking about cicadas and locusts. The Differences Between Cicadas and Locusts

I’ve put small, coin-sized envelopes and pens out there so people can choose seeds from larger envelopes and pack them up easily to take home. I hope you’ll consider bringing some seeds to share, and if you do, please bring them in envelopes or baggies that are clearly marked with the name of the plant.

#Cicada locust free#

As always in the spring and fall, the top shelf of our Little Free Library (on the corner of 45th & Washburn) will serve as a seed-sharing space for the next couple of months. Yes, fellow gardeners, it is once again time to stock the Little Free Seed Library at my house.