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Garden State Pumpkins

Brood XIV of the seventeen year locust are about to hatch this year. Last time it happened I rememember tree damage but not plant damage that I recall. Will they cause any problems with Pumpkins?....They're ugly and I hated going out into the swarm and morning din of their singing....but lasted about 4 weeks. I mean millions of these suckers.

5/25/2008 9:00:14 AM

Nova Scotia

i'd be scared myself you never know what mother nature is going to do. I'd get some garlic spray befor the hatch may detter them from pumpkin

5/26/2008 1:06:03 PM

Lexington, Ky

I can hear them "roaring" in the woods right now in my corner of Kentucky....must be millions of them! Will be interesting to see what happens when they come out into the open.

5/28/2008 8:26:20 AM

They do not eat leaves. I'm pretty sure they do not even eat. They spend their time in trees as adults. They are not normally a threat to gardens. They do not carry disease. Expect a spike in mole/mice population due to increased food supply to them. They don't like pine trees. The females lay eggs near the ends of branches and the branch dies at that point. If you had a lot of the nymphs in your garden they may feed on pumpkin plant roots but I have never heard of this. They live in a hole the size of a dime or so until they emerge after going to the adult stage.

5/28/2008 3:42:21 PM