Unknown: Hello, and thanks for joining us for another edition of the American gardener.

I'm your host Tinisha Spain.

And joining me today are three of our panelists and our topic might give you the willies.

This is going to be our insect show.

So whatever you're seeing outside, we've been hearing a lot of talk about the cicadas and jumping worms.

And so we've got the right crew here that is going to be able to inform us of exactly what we're seeing crawling, buzzing and flying around outside.

So let's have them introduce themselves and tell you a little bit more about their specialty.

And Ken, we'll start with you.

I am Ken Johnson.

I'm horticulture educator with the University of Illinois extension.

I cover Calhoun Cass Green Morgan and Scott counties, and I'm based out of Jacksonville.

I guess my expertise if you could call that would be insects.

Good, bad, ugly, indifferent wherever they are.

I also do a lot of stuff with fruit and vegetables as well.

Okay, awesome, Chris.

My name is Chris Enroth.

I'm also a horticulture educator with a University of Illinois Extension.

I'm based in McComb, Illinois, and both Ken myself and our colleague Katie Parker, you can find us online on the good growing blog and podcast.

Wonderful.

And last but not least, go ahead, Kelly.

Yeah, just so you know, Chris's expertise is landscaping.

And I have your number Kelly.

That's what I call a plug that My name is Kelly Allsup.

And I am a horticulture educator like Ken and Chris, I am based out of Bloomington.

My specialty within the team is integrated pest management.

So I am trained to kill insects.

However, I spend the majority of my time promoting insect conservation.

And I work with Ken a lot on projects.

So that's me.

All right, so this is the bug show dance.

Alright, so the three of you have put together a presentation to share some of the things that folks have been talking about some of the buzzwords out there that we've seen in the headline.

So I'll have you guys just take it away and teach us and tell us what we're seeing outside.

Okay, so I'm definitely going to refer to Ken and Chris on this.

But the very first thing that is really a hot topic in Illinois right now is jumping worms.

They are an invasive species that really are of great concern for gardeners and for the environment.

And for our forested areas and our prairies.

What is jumping more, what makes it such a bad invasive species it's not an insect clearly, is that it breaks down organic matter, all of that mulching old plant material that you may have in your garden at an exceedingly high rate.

And so it breaks it down so fast that the plants are unable to take up the nutrients and it can even dry out the soil.

So we really need to know how to identify jumping worms and how to know if we have them in our backyard.

So with that, I'm going to refer to Ken to since you know he's the entomologist teach you how to identify a jumping worm, and how to know if you have it in your garden.

Or do they jump Can we start with the name How did they get that name?

So I I've never seen my person but but Chris has so he can probably tell you a little more than I could.

So I will say last week we had a phone call into the McDonough County Office and someone said I think I have these jumping worms on my sidewalk after all of the rain that we had for several weeks and I went out and I thought I were rural Illinois probably not replaced see that popping up in more of the more densely populated areas where there's a lot more landscaping things happening and I go out check it out.

Sure enough, it was jumping worm and so their behavior, it's kind of snake like in a way so when you touch them, they squirm and they kind of go in this like s shaped squirming motion like a snake would.

And I think that kind of freaks some people out.

They get a little bit scared when They see something like that.

So they definitely do jump.

And a good telltale identification for these guys is, you know, we say kind of their grayish or tannish colored.

But color does vary within species.

But in terms of their top color and their bottom color, that's different.

And so when they're squirming, you see these two flashes of color happening.

So that is one diagnostic for identifying them.

Gotcha, gotcha.

Okay, Ken, we're going back to you.

Anything to add to that?

So on that picture, you get to see they have that kind of that white milky band on them.

And that's kind of the the other big real diagnostic piece there is that white band wares are the other Earth ones we have the ones that aren't really a concern is more of a reddish, or brownish color.

So that's, that's probably the easiest two ways is kind of the movement in that white band.

One of the identification characteristics that stood out to me Can was they said, which forgive me if I am mispronouncing Mrs. site, site tell them that's the white milky band is that for the jumping worm, the white milky band is level, but for the earthworm, the white the band, the site tell them is raised.

And then plus the jumping worm, it goes all the way around the worm for the earthworm, it kind of sits like a saddle.

So if you look on the underneath that side, tell them is not going to go all the way around.

And then I also read that they will actually lose their tails.

Did you see that?

Chris?

No, I did not pull on its tail.

I wasn't doing that.

So but another thing, so I communicated with our State Extension Forester, Chris Evans.

And another way to identify this, if you want to get up close personal with the magnifying glass, you look for that, wherever that that band is on that body, it usually begins around the 14th segment of its body.

Now that's very close and accurate.

So and because these guys squirm so much, it's really difficult to to keep them staying still that identify that.

But does an earthworm squirm.

And when you pick up a worm, it's squirms a little bit, but usually it's really kind of soft, right?

This feels like there's some muscle behind it.

You know, it's like, yeah, yeah.

I mean, if I know people use these for fishing, and that's kind of one of the ways they become established throughout parts of the country here, but I would not know how to get this thing on a hook.

Because it moves a lot.

Wow.

Interesting.

So when people have them?

Do they come to your home in mulch?

How do you how do you get the infestation?

How do you get the problem?

Where do they come from?

Well, the person we were dealing with, and this is pretty common, it seems like they had a load of mulch delivered from it was just a large retailer.

And they had that delivered last year.

She said she started seeing them last year after that.

And the interesting thing also with these jumping worms is that they can survive purely off of this, you know, like, straight cellulose.

So wood mulch, you know, most of our other worms have to go into the soil.

These guys, they can just hang out in mulch the entire time and just chomp away on that and and they can survive off of that.

And so I think a lot of it's getting moved in mulch and compost, things like that.

So I would say most of our potted plant material is not as much risk because usually that potting mix is pasteurized or sterilized before the commercial growers plant things in there.

Okay, all right, Kelly, I don't know where you were on your presentation.

And so they don't overwinter the way the earthworms do.

And they don't go into the soil the way the earthworms do, they kind of stay in the top layers.

And they're congregating congregate large amounts of them.

So I'm sure when Chris saw these, he saw multiple specimens in one little small area.

So you know, earthworms can go down into the soil.

And they, you know, they that's how they overwinter.

But these jumping worms cannot overwinter in the state of Illinois, but they overwinter in these little egg cases.

And these egg cases is what is found in different materials.

And so just in the Master Gardener program, we are encouraging everyone to not share plant material this year, not dig up perennials from your yard and give them to your friends or your neighbors.

So that's one step that we are taking.

We see that Chris found these jumping worms in late May well in all of the literature that I've been reading, were not really useful.

hopes to see adult worms until you know, later in the season.

So I think there's still a lot for us to learn about jumping worms.

And if you do think that you have a jumping worm, feel free to reach out to your extension office, because we're very interested in, you know, tracking, and will forward you to any place that you need to go to report them.

As of right now, there's no control for jumping worms.

So prevention is really our best key.

And I know that Ken mentioned this, we don't want to use jumping worms for fishing bait, we really need to avoid that.

So next time you go out fishing, make sure you're not using jumping worms is bait, or no Chris mentioned it.

Okay.

Okay.

So now the other hot topic that people are discussing are the cicadas, it's been all in the news.

And I have a couple of photos actually, that I could share, I found a couple in my yard over the weekend, which was pretty cool out discovering with my five year old.

And so they're here, and I haven't heard any noise yet.

So maybe you guys can let us know when we will, you know, sort of be dealing with that.

But there, there were a few that I found maybe a dozen or two so far out at our house and we're in rural vermillion County.

So I would love to learn more about about these guys, and what that's going to look like for us.

So I guess I can start off with so this is the skaters we have are the brood 10 cicadas that come out every 17 years.

So the individuals coming out now have been underground for 17 years, they're emerging now.

Basically, they come out in these giant masses, millions, trillions, probably across the country, I kind of the theory is that, you know, they kind of basically overwhelm the systems, they can all mate, reproduce.

Before all the predators pick them up, there's just too many of them for them all to be eaten.

So that's why they kind of one of the theories as to why they all kind of come on once.

You can see in this picture on these pictures here.

The periodical scales are the ones on the right, so those are going to be black with red eyes, orange wings, compare those to our dog basic keys, which typically start emerging in July and August.

Those are going to be green, or brown or black.

So these are kind of two completely different types of cicadas, Dog Day cicadas are coming out.

Every year, we get those coming out every year.

As far as when they're going to start singing, you know, if they've been coming out, I would think relatively soon they'll start singing it's only going to be the males singing solos males are going to call the females to kind of attract them so they can mate.

And then certainly next.

Awesome.

And there was some talk about a fungus affecting them this year.

Is there anything there that you know your average person who enjoys insects at home would would care to learn about so the fungus that that'll infect them and it gets into the abdomen?

the abdomen will get all fuzzy and fall off?

Oh, do they die after that?

Do they die after their abdomen falls?

I can't imagine it's too good for him.

I'm not sure how much longer they last but wow.

Very good.

So if you think in nature, all insects really can succumb to different diseases or be parasitized by was for eating by other bugs.

So you know that it comes to a disease is not you know, probably doesn't the diseases probably can't wipe out that large of a population.

Gotcha.

That's what I'm thinking.

And then Ken so why am I not seeing periodic cicadas in Bloomington?

So kind of the the maps and where we're kind of getting large populations coming out is that Edgar Clark Crawford vermillion counties, that's kind of the main areas of Illinois.

This weekend here in Jacksonville, I found one cicada on one of our hydrangea bushes.

I tried to catch it but a bird it flew off and a bird caught it so I couldn't catch it.

And I've heard one cicada calling in a neighbor's tree.

So you got to in Jacksonville that I know of, but we're not a lot of the rest of the state's not getting you know 1000s coming out at a time.

I know there's been some reports from some Cook County.

Okay, let's for county as I mentioned earlier, that's kind of the main area for Illinois.

These are primarily coming out in Indiana, at least close to us and then the eastern east coast is where we're seeing most of the population that's where the trillions and millions and trillions are going to be coming into play there.

And for for us in Illinois, for sorry for the rest of the state.

We're not really going to be the respa statement 2024 we'll have a couple different routes coming out of 13 year brood and a 17 year brood coming out 2024 will be awesome for me the bigger year for folks in Illinois.

And I've had a lot of folks talk about wanting to eat them.

Let's discuss that for a second.

Okay, hands are raised already.

Kelly All right.

So Kelly Can I didn't see Chris, if you are on Team eat cicadas?

Kind of.

I'll try.

Okay, have you all eaten them before?

You've done this before?

I haven't.

Okay.

I've been insects before.

I've eaten grasshoppers and mealworms and just those normal kind of ones that marketed grasshoppers before, right?

So if there's insects you can buy and stuff?

Well, if you guys do indulge, you'll have to, you have to send us some pictures.

Because there I've seen recipes, there are stir fries, and all kinds of Do you eat the you eat the actual secatur?

Right?

Can you were telling me there's actually like a perfect time to eat them.

So I will preface this with I have never eaten them.

But from what I have read when they first start coming out and they come out of that that nymphal skin when they emerge on their kind of white still, that is supposedly the peak quality, best flavor, kind of best mouthfeel I guess before they kind of hard enough is your grab those kind of white ones that are still auditing and and blanch them and then eat them.

If you don't have those in your collecting the ones that are they've already emerged and they've hardened, you'd usually want to take off the wings and the legs, because those can be kind of hard and, and stuff.

And I've heard they taste like asparagus.

But again, I can't say for sure.

And well anybody out there if you are going to find yourself enjoying cicadas, please in this picture on our Facebook or on our Instagram because I would just love to see this.

Okay, sorry to interrupt your presentation.

Go right ahead with wherever you guys were next.

Um, no.

So you know cicadas, they don't really damage plants, except when they start laying their eggs.

And what they do is they lay their eggs and young tree branches.

And so usually this is not a huge issue.

However you guys to Nisha in your county, this may be of concern for you guys.

Just so much egg laying could potentially damage a tree, especially if it's young.

So the next picture is these are wasps and they're beneficial insects.

I love talking about cicada killers and Ken knows, can I talk about them a lot.

What I love about them is I love just everything about them.

I love that they're beneficial.

So they're cicadas, the female of this species.

what she'll do is she'll go off, she'll find a cicada show, Sting it, and paralyze it.

And then she'll take this cicada back to her underground nest.

And she'll lay an egg on it.

And so when that egg hatches, the larva actually eats that still living sort of in suspension cicada.

Now the adult of this species pollinates flowers.

So they meet when they're young and flowers when they're older.

And we get a lot of questions in our extension office when these cicada killers start coming out.

Because the males are quite aggressive.

And they're up in your business going Who are you because they want to make sure you're not another male.

But the male is unable to speak.

The one that actually comes up to your face can't as harmless.

The female can sting because clearly she needs to sting the the cicadas to bring them back to her nest.

But she's too busy working, gathering cicadas for her young while the male is pounding his chest.

Right.

Okay.

I'm looking at the guy and he can't do anything.

How can you tell I love that he can't do anything.

And he can't do any good since nature had there.

Yes.

Yeah.

So Chris, the landscape guy where I saw a hole in the ground, the cicada killer.

They nest in the ground.

Can you tell us a little bit more about how to avoid them?

Yeah, so you'll see them quite a bit.

On maybe sunny or exposed sites if you have any bare dirt patches, but I tend to see them quite a bit next to sidewalks.

So how sidewalks are built, typically they use maybe a sand sub base or next to a patio, they use sand on there.

That's really easy to excavate if your ground Berlin wasp in this case.

So I tend to see those pretty often.

And there's a little pile of sand outside of the hole.

I mean, like Kelly said, the male is going to be aggressive to you, but he can't hurt you.

The female doesn't want anything to do with you, she's going to avoid you.

So just stay away from him.

I mean, if you can avoid that spot in your yard, just stay away from it.

There's no need to spray anything in this case.

All right, and you guys have a few more photos of some insect work.

I won't call it damage insect work, if you want to run through those, then, and one thing I'll point out for cicada killers, those aren't out now.

Those are gonna be coming out later in the year when our annual Dante cicadas are coming out.

So we're not going to see those until July, August time for July or August.

Okay.

Okay.

But Ken, do you think this song of the periodic cicadas is going to bring them out?

Is that a thing?

No.

It's probably probably more temperature than anything else.

Before we move on, I did have a lot of people ask, how do they know it's been 17 years?

And I just What in the world?

How do they know that?

It's time?

They just do?

give better answer.

I think every so with them, I think there was some coming.

So some of them kind of get off time.

So sometimes with the 17 years, you'll have some coming out four years early.

Sometimes you'll have some stragglers.

So I mean, there's not again, there's not the large quantity coming out.

But you always have some coming out earlier and some stragglers, but as far as how they know how that timing works.

I have no idea.

Oh, man, that is one answer.

I would love to I'm sure you guys too.

I've heard people, you know, anecdotally say, Well, I think it's the taste of the roots.

Something happens on 17 years.

And I'm just like, really?

Is that the real answer?

But yeah, that would be great to know.

But we're just one of those nature.

Nature mysteries.

So anyway, okay, you had some coneflower photos.

Yeah, so here, I was doing some yard work this weekend.

And one of the things we talked about with kind of landscaping for pollinators and stuff like that is leaving some flower stalks behind when you're cleaning up your plants.

So that's why it was so my coneflowers this year.

And you can see these flower stalks, they have kind of these pithy centers.

And in these you can see small holes, and I've actually had some bees start excavating out the middle of these flower stalks.

And they're going to utilize those for their nests, to excavate that they'll start laying eggs in there.

No provision that with pollen and stuff.

These are fairly small holes with maybe something like a small Carpenter bee, something like that.

doing that, and I kind of first noticed, because I saw the sawdust all over the leaves, you can see a little bit on that weave there, a lower down, some of these leaves are completely covered with sawdust, so kind of drew my attention and saw some B.

So these are gonna be solitary female vs, you're gonna have one female per stem there.

So I saw a few bees here, and they're flying out of the stalks.

So if you kind of want to provide that habitat for some of our native pollinators, particularly bees, leave some of those flower stalks behind and then lay their eggs in there.

And then next spring, or summer, depending on the species, they will emerge from that flower sock and if our sock will break down on its own over time.

So this is sort of what we were talking about when, earlier in the spring, when you guys were saying, Please don't clean your beds out.

You know, as soon as you have a nice warm day.

That's a perfect example of an insect that was using that.

So now that is kind of applicable to what we were talking about.

We've got about two minutes left and I do we have any other photos or images that you want you guys wanted to talk through.

Yeah, Ken has a gorgeous image a man look at that image.

That's that's the money shot right there.

I know we need to pay him.

So here this is one of our native lady beetles of pink Ladybug lady beetle, whatever you want to call it.

And this is this particular individual is feeding on some pollen on a strawberry flower.

So we think about lady beetles, we usually think about them feeding on aphids and other small soft bodied insects.

A lot of times early in the year before those pest populations get real high.

They will supplement their diet with pollen.

So again, another reason to provide some of these floor resources not only for for the pollinators we think about like bees and butterflies and stuff but also for beetles.

They'll do some pollination and supplement their diet with it.

Okay, we've got about one minute left.

I've heard folks also talking about the monarch so when can we expect Those guys.

we've, we've already had silence.

Great.

Yep.

Great, starting to lay eggs as we speak.

So check your milkweed and be on the lookout for that wonderful guys.

Thank you so much that went really fast.

I hope everybody learned something out there about cicadas and jumping worms and what cicada killers and all kinds of stuff while you're out in your yard.

Thank you guys for coming and sharing your time and talents with us.

And thank you for watching, and we'll see you next time.

Good night.