If you’re facing the return of periodical cicadas or dealing with annual “dog-day” cicadas, you likely want to know how to keep cicadas away. Keeping cicadas away involves modifying your outdoor space to make it less inviting to them. These insects, known for their loud buzzing and sheer numbers, can be a significant nuisance during their active seasons.
While they don’t bite or sting, their presence can overwhelm gardens, damage young trees, and disrupt outdoor activities. The good news is that with some proactive planning and simple techniques, you can protect your property and enjoy your yard with much less insect interference.
This guide provides clear, actionable strategies to deter cicadas. We’ll cover methods from physical barriers to habitat modification, ensuring you have a full toolkit for cicada management.
How To Keep Cicadas Away
The most effective approach to cicada control is integrated pest management. This means combining several methods to create a comprehensive defense. Relying on a single tactic is rarely as successful as using a multi-pronged strategy.
Your plan should focus on exclusion, deterrence, and targeted protection for vulnerable plants. The goal is not necessarily to eliminate every cicada—an impossible task during a major brood emergence—but to create a less attractive environment and shield your most valuable assets.
Understand Your Cicada Type
Knowing whether you’re dealing with periodical or annual cicadas can inform your strategy. Periodical cicadas emerge in massive, synchronized broods every 13 or 17 years. Their emergences are predictable and region-specific, creating a short but intense six-to-eight-week period of activity.
Annual cicadas, sometimes called “dog-day” cicadas, appear in smaller numbers every summer. While their emergences are less dramatic, their presence is a yearly occurrence in many areas. The core deterrent methods work for both, but the scale of your efforts may differ.
Key Differences Between Cicada Types
- Periodical Cicadas: Black bodies with striking red eyes and orange-veined wings. They emerge in the hundreds of thousands to millions per acre. Their life cycle is 13 or 17 years underground.
- Annual Cicadas: Often larger with green and black markings. They emerge in smaller, staggered numbers each year. Their life cycle is typically two to five years, but generations overlap.
Employ Physical Barriers And Netting
Physical barriers are your first and most effective line of defense, especially for valuable young trees and shrubs. Cicadas lay their eggs in the slender branches of trees, which can cause significant damage called “flagging,” where the branch tips die back.
Protecting Young Trees and Shrubs
For saplings and ornamental shrubs, fine-mesh netting is essential. Use netting with holes no larger than 1/4 inch to prevent cicadas from crawling through.
- Purchase quality insect netting or tulle fabric from a garden center.
- Drape the netting over the entire canopy of the tree or shrub before cicadas are expected to emerge.
- Secure the netting tightly around the trunk or base of the plant using twist ties or cord. Ensure there are no gaps for cicadas to enter from below.
- Leave the netting in place until the cicada activity in your area has subsided, usually after the singing stops and adults have died off.
Securing Outdoor Furniture and Fixtures
Cicadas are clumsy fliers and will often land on patio furniture, grills, and light fixtures. While they don’t cause damage here, their presence can be unpleasant.
- Use fitted covers for your grill and patio furniture when not in use.
- Consider temporarily moving sensitive outdoor electronics or covering them with tarps.
- Close umbrellas when you’re not outside to prevent cicadas from getting trapped inside the canopy.
Modify Your Landscape And Habitat
Making your yard less appealing to cicadas can reduce their numbers significantly. This involves discouraging egg-laying and reducing attractants.
Delay New Plantings and Pruning
If a major periodical brood emergence is predicted for your area, adjust your gardening schedule. Avoid planting new young trees and shrubs in the year leading up to and during the emergence. These tender plants are the most vulnerable to egg-laying damage.
Also, refrain from major pruning in early spring before an emergence. Pruning stimulates new, tender growth, which is highly attractive to female cicadas looking for egg-laying sites.
Choose Less Appealing Plants
While no plant is completely immune, cicadas have strong preferences. They favor deciduous hardwoods like oak, maple, fruit trees, and especially young trees. You can temporarily protect prized specimens with netting and focus your efforts there.
Consider that cicadas generally avoid conifers (pines, spruces) and plants with very slender or non-woody stems. This knowledge can help you plan your landscape during a cicada year.
Use Safe And Targeted Repellents
It’s important to note that broad-spectrum insecticides are largely ineffective and ecologically harmful for cicada control. Spraying adult cicadas has little impact on their massive numbers and can kill beneficial insects, birds, and other wildlife that feed on cicadas.
Homemade Garlic and Pepper Sprays
Some gardeners report success with homemade repellent sprays on plant foliage. These are not guaranteed but may offer a mild deterrent.
- Blend several cloves of garlic and a few tablespoons of cayenne pepper with water.
- Let the mixture steep for 24 hours, then strain it into a spray bottle.
- Add a few drops of mild dish soap as a sticking agent.
- Test the spray on a small part of a plant first, then apply lightly to the leaves of vulnerable plants. Reapply after rain.
Commercial Horticultural Oils
As a preventative measure for very young, valuable trees, a application of horticultural oil on the bark and branches in late winter (before emergence) may deter some females from laying eggs. This is a mild approach and should be used according to label instructions.
Implement Outdoor Activity Adjustments
Since you cannot eliminate every cicada, adjusting your own habits during peak emergence can make the situation more manageable.
Time Your Outdoor Work
Cicadas are most active on warm, sunny days. They tend to be less mobile in the early morning, late evening, or on cool, cloudy days. Schedule gardening, lawn mowing, or other yard work for these quieter times to minimize direct contact.
Create a “Cicada-Free” Zone
You can make a small area, like a patio or deck, more usable by using a combination of tactics.
- Use a box fan on your patio. Cicadas are weak fliers and will avoid areas with strong air currents.
- Set up patio netting or screens around a specific seating area to create a physical barrier.
- Keep outdoor lights off at night, as lights can attract cicadas along with other insects.
Clean Up And Long-Term Strategies
After the adult cicadas have completed their lifecycle, there are steps you can take to benefit your garden and prepare for future cycles.
Dispose of Cicada Remains
The large number of cicada bodies can be raked up and added to your compost pile. They are an excellent source of nitrogen and will break down quickly. This cleanup helps reduce odor and can improve your soil health.
Nurture Your Soil and Trees
The natural “aeration” caused by cicada nymphs emerging from the ground and the nutrient boost from their decomposing bodies actually benefits soil. After an emergence year, your trees may put out a flush of new growth. Ensure they are well-watered, especially if conditions are dry, to recover from any egg-laying stress.
Consider applying a layer of mulch around the base of your trees to retain moisture and support soil health. This helps the overall vigor of the tree, making it more resilient.
What Not To Do: Common Mistakes
In your effort to control cicadas, avoid these ineffective or counterproductive actions.
- Do not use general insecticide sprays. They are a waste of money and cause collateral damage to the ecosystem, including animals that eat cicadas.
- Do not attempt to use “bug zappers.” They are ineffective against cicadas and will kill countless beneficial insects.
- Avoid using sticky traps on trees. They will not control the population and will indiscriminately catch birds, beneficial insects, and small mammals, causing unnecessary harm.
- Do not panic and over-prune damaged trees. Minor “flagging” from egg-laying is not typically fatal to healthy, established trees. They will recover. Prune only dead or truly damaged limbs in the fall.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is The Best Way To Keep Cicadas Off My House?
The best way is to seal entry points. Ensure window and door screens are intact and without holes. Keep doors closed as much as possible during peak activity. You can also reduce outdoor lighting near windows at night, as lights attract them.
Do Any Natural Cicada Repellents Actually Work?
Strong scents like garlic, peppermint, or citronella may provide a very minor, localized deterrent when applied as a spray, but they are not a reliable solution for large areas. Their effectiveness is limited and short-lived, requiring frequent reapplication, especially after rain.
How Can I Protect My Vegetable Garden From Cicadas?
Cicadas rarely target vegetable plants for egg-laying, as they prefer woody stems. However, they may land on garden plants. Use floating row covers (lightweight fabric) secured over hoops to protect sensitive plants. This also has the benefit of keeping other pests out.
Will Cicadas Harm My Pets If They Eat Them?
Dogs or cats may eat a few cicadas, which is generally not harmful. However, consuming a very large number can cause an upset stomach or intestinal blockage due to the hard exoskeletons. It’s best to monitor your pets and discourage them from feasting on the insects.
How Long Do Cicada Swarms Last?
The adult stage of a periodical cicada brood is typically 4 to 6 weeks. The noise and activity peak around the middle of this period. Annual cicadas have a longer, more drawn-out emergence throughout the summer months, but their numbers are never as dense as a periodical brood.