For home gardeners especially, cicadas can be tricky to deal with.

Found commonly in the American South, these insects occupy treetops as summer approaches and the air becomes humid.

Check out their tips, ahead.

Cicadas on tree

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As a whole, experts concur that cicadas are not particularly harmful to gardens.

However, she cautions: Rest easy, friendscicadas are not a plague of locusts.

They prefer to live a life as far from you and your crop as possible.

Netting on tree

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Most adults don’t cause serious damage to plants when feeding.

These cuts [can] invite other insects and disease as well.

Still, this threat is relatively slim when compared to their larger,positive environmental impact.

Home garden

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People can do a few things to protect their plants, Bridgewater says.

When it comes to netting plants, the process is quite easy.

Cicadas

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“In some cases, people choose to net the whole tree.

The only instance in which its appropriate to kill off cicadas is if they are proliferating young susceptible trees.

Pesticides, however, should be avoided.

Your leafy shrubby plants including herbs and veggies should be fine!

As for what cicadas dont like?

Ultimately, though, there arent any specific plants that prevent cicadas.

After all, cicadas don’t need preventing, Bridgewater concludes.

They are a part of our ecosystems and their emergence is part of a natural cycle.

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Also, when cicadas lay eggs in tree tips causing some branches to fall, they are naturallypruning trees.

And when they are above ground, cicadas are an important food source for local wildlife, Eaves says.

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