News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
One of the summer’s most notorious noises will make a return to Tennessee this year.
The 17-year cicada called Brood X is set to emerge from the ground in late May. But the Upper Cumberland should be safe and sound. Putnam County Ag Extension Agent Wayne Key said the invasion will affect primarily east Tennessee.
“I would think possibly some of the eastern regions of Putnam County, eastern regions of let’s say Fentress, Overton, edges of Cumberland for example, we might hear some,” Key said. “I don’t think we are out of the woods, but I don’t think we will have that full, major, loud roaring influx that we hear with a typical full cicada invasion.”
Key said millions of cicadas will be in Tennessee for about six weeks. Key said besides being loud, the insects are known to kill fruit and flowering trees by cutting into young branches to lay eggs.
“This particular brood is based on a previous brood on a 17 year cycle from 17 years ago. This is where they were,” Key said. “And that line, is located pretty much where the eastern time zone is.”
Broods of cicadas are just the life cycle for the next round of eggs hatching. Key said there are rotations of 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 22 and 23 year intervals. The next predicted round of cicadas for the Upper Cumberland is for 2025.
“The adult after its full molting, it lays its eggs and enters the ground, and it basically dies off until that next cycle until those eggs that are produced become adults and they continue that cycle,” Key said. “They burrow in the ground, over winter there and spend several years in the ground.”
