I don't worry about them. A couple have been digging in my vegetable garden. But they aren't hurting anything. So I just leave them alone. Are they hurting your flowers?

George
Tahlequah, OK

What are cicada killers .... insects or animals? This is the first time I've heard of them.

Suzie

Imp,

We have them every year, but I just don't worry about them. They are beneficial insects since they generally help control cicada populations. We've never had them sting anyone here. I suppose if they were stinging or otherwise causing problems, we might try to do something about them.

There are a few chemical wasp-control products, but many of them are sprays and you have to spray them directly on the wasps in order for them to be effective.

I think if I had them coming back to a flower bed and I didn't want them, I'd be inclined to put down some sort of barrier to discourage them. What would I use? Maybe a double layer of thick cardboard covered with mulch. Or, maybe one of the woven-fabric type landscape cloth materials with mulch piled on top of it. You also might be able to irritate them by repeatedly pouring pea gravel or pine fines down their holes. You might have to do that on a daily basis for a while.

You probably don't want to plow up or till up the flower beds, so you can't destroy their homes the way Larry did. : ) (Hi, Larry!)

Their larvae do overwinter underground, so perhaps there is something you can use to treat the ground that would kill them, but I don't know what it would be. Most likely it would be a chemical of the sort that golf courses and other areas seeking perfect turf would use, and it might not be anything you'd want to use in a home landscape.

Anything you do to control them this year wouldn't guarantee that others wouldn't move in next year. If you have a habitat area that they like (and clearly you do), they'll keep 'finding' it. And, because they are largely considered beneficial, I've never seen an organic control for them. The page I've linked below contains some links that discuss possible control measures.

Suzie, Cicada-killers are very large wasps. The adults prey exclusively on cicadas and the young ones eat flower pollen. See the link below.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Cicada Killer Image and Info

Even in my very small garden, I have them. I kinda like having them around, and they aren't threatening, tho they look like they could be. I saw one with a cicada last summer. I heard this noise that sounded like a mini helicopter and looked up, and it was lowering itself slowly to the ground, cicada in its grip. It really was fascinating. I do appreciate nature in general so try not to interfere especially if is something that doesn't bother me or my plants.

Right now I have a beautiful Argiope aurantis that has built her nest right next to the porch where I can see her every day when I'm outside. I know its gross, but she manages to catch quite a number of Hackberry Emperors in her web. It's fascinating to watch her run out to the location in her web and grab the butterfly and then run back to the center of the web where she resides, quickly roll up the butterfly in that webby substance and then deposit it somewhere within the web for future consumption. The other day she mated and I found her building her cocoon around the eggs, which looks kinda like a paper sack knotted at the top. I hope she gets another mate (they kill the male after mating) and lays more eggs. I've seen her kill grasshoppers to. So, a natural defense against the hoppers, I'm trying to protect her and her eggs for next year's population.

Susan

Wow, that is really interesting .... I had no idea there are wasps that kill cicadas. The pictures on that site of them carrying the cicadas are fascinating! Thanks!

Suzie

Well, you guys are more generous than I. The little buggers have dug down through several of my small hostas that have spread to about the size of a dinner plate (4" tall) so they are burying the little hostas esp the crowns. In one area they killed off everything within a two foot radius so I just sink pots in that area now. I have put down mulch and they are not deterred.

Also, my husband has been stung a couple of times while mowing the lawn. I'm guessing the lawnmower has a vibration approximating that of a cicada-or they were just annoyed. The stings are very painful. He wears jeans to mow now.

And, speaking of wild kingdom! One afternoon I was out on the deck and one of them was attacking a cicada. The cicada was flaying about and screaming (really not making this up). It was brutal. Tho I am laughing while writing this it was awful at the time and I cringed and felt really sorry for the cicada. He was terrified all the while the cicada was laying the eggs in it and then burying it. Eek!

Imp,

For some reason, my DH is also a bee/wasp/yellow jacket magnet every time he walks out the door, but especially when he is mowing. Normally, it is the male cicadakillers who are aggressive and sting. (Hmmm, not surprising, is it?)

It is sort of 'shocking' to watch one insect attack and subdue another. I sometimes see the same kind of battle between praying mantids and other insects. We also watch the argiope spiders (we have very, very many and some have had their webs in the same spots for months now) catch their prey in their webs quite often and it is very entertaining, especially when they are dealing with big old grasshoppers.

With all the cicadas we have here in our rural area, it would take a billion cicadakillers to subdue them all, but I suppose the cicadakillers we have do help control them somewhat.

I am sorry they're damaging your hostas. If I had hostas and they were tunneling around them, I am sure I'd be just as irritated as you are. The area in our landscape that the frequent the most has perennial Four O'Clocks which have tuberous roots that can get as large as a football, so the tunneling from the cicadakillers doesn't harm them. I used to have hostas in that spot, but then discovered that in our area the word 'hosta' is another word for 'deer chow'.

To keep the cicada killers from digging, you'd have to put down something relatively solid like cardboard or cloth or plastic that they can't tunnel through. They love mulched areas because the mulch keeps the ground softer for them and makes it easier to tunnel in it.

I have heard of folks mulching with gravel or some other form of decorative stone to deter them but haven't tried it myself and can't say I'm sure it would be a good solution here since rocks absorb heat and we have too much heat as it is. I suspect your hostas wouldn't appreciate heat collected/reflected from a layer of rock mulch.

I don't even know of a natural predator that preys upon cicada killers, although there must be one of some kind.

Dawn

Pesticides really aren't an option for me, so, oh well. Perhaps I just needed to vent!

imp

Imp,

Well, I don't like using pesticides either, although I'll use spider killer sprays on black widows and brown recluse spiders who try to take up residence in our home or outbuildings.

Hope venting helped.

I only see cicada killers for a limited time here....maybe a month or so, so perhaps they won't be hanging around your place too long.

Dawn

Birds, like Mockingbirds, Robins, Flycatchers; shrews, and Praying Mantids, especially the big old Chinese Mantid, are predators of Cicada Killers (Specius speciosus). I don't think too many of them get eaten by predators, though.

Susan

If you want to get rid off cicada you should check this site. They got powerful solutions Academic Istanbul

I have hundreds of them and they keep getting worse each year. When they grow to adult size there are so many of them around we can’t enjoy the patio. I’ve installed a sprinkler system to keep my lawn from drying out in hopes to discourage them. My grass is improving and now they have taken over my garden beds. I will try heavy mulch. I am losing the battle to them and they are winning.

I know they're bid and scary looking, but they don't have a stinger.

Apparently I'm wrong, males don't sting, females can, but only when disturbed.