The 17-year cicadas can damage and even kill new plantings. The females, with their sharp tails, cut slits into small branches to lay eggs ?EUR??,,????'??+ openings that can make new trees susceptible to disease, experts say.

Particularly in areas that experienced heavy cicada activity in 1990, “my feeling is you’re better off waiting” if the trunk of the new plant is less than 2-1/2 inches thick, said Phil Nixon, an extension specialist and entomologist with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Young fruit trees are particularly attractive to the female cicadas, which are expected to emerge in May, perhaps around Memorial Day when soil temperatures reach about 64 degrees.

In Lisle, Morton Arboretum plant clinic manager Doris Taylor is encouraging people to plant trees, but said that homeowners should buy netting to toss over the young vegetation. Such netting can be purchased in fabric stores or at the arboretum.

“You want something transparent because you’re going to leave it on for the month of June,” said Taylor, whose office has been inundated with queries from panicky homeowners.

“If you live in a new subdivision or have done construction since 1990, you probably won’t have too many (cicadas),” Taylor said. Those climbing their way to the surface now went underground 17 years ago, flying from nearby trees, she said.

The cicada population could top 5 billion in Northern Illinois.

Area landscapers have been consulting with bug experts, said Dan Wanzung of American Gardens Inc. in Elmhurst. If the job is a matter of just a few new trees, the firm is going ahead with planting but will be ready with protective netting in the event of heavy cicada outbreak, said Wanzung, who is a member of the board of the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association.

Wanzung said landscapers are more worried about rabbits.

“They do far more damage, and they’re here every year,’’ he said.

Source: Chicago Sun-Times News Group