Cicadas, Millions of Tons of Cicadas
Question
April 19, 2024
Question received on our Instagram: Will the over 2 million tons of cicadas carcasses help the soil or harm in such a vast quantity? Here is link to a video about this: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5f8NePOe9x/?igsh=OHNwbDQwMHIybmN1
Answer(s)
Answer by JZ: Albert Howard (1873-1947) father of modern composting said: "What (nutrients) comes from the soil needs to be returned to the soil." Cicadas will come from the soil, die, then will best decompose in a managed hot process composting setup completing the cycle. If there is an abundance of composted insects in one area, then the finished compost may be shared with other areas. Commercial composters frequently distribute/sell their finished product. Cicada compost - Nifty !
Answer by MR: Here's my first coffee break, and I'm greeted with cicada questions in all their silliness. JR has already addressed the salient points, so I'll simply add one or two questions to make my point: What "yuck" factor!? Where does everyone think they've been living all these years before they emerged? Sir Albert Howard might well have added: "What comes from the soil needs to be returned to the soil, and it will be." Despite the pseudoculture's obsession with so-called tidiness, it's almost always an egregiously lazy form of cleanup: "Just get it out of my sight, so I don't have to think about it." Decomposition, recomposition, . . . compost. 'S all good baby!
I love cicadas.