Spotted Lanternfly

[CTDrew]

Just wanted to post a link to this recent study on the spotted lanternfly I came across which has been a real issue in Eastern parts of PA:
https://bit.ly/2wg4sBw
Hopefully, none of my fellow Northeast growers has seen these invaders yet, but I imagine it will only be a matter of time before we start seeing them so it is good to know what to look out for!

 

[ceeaton]

I work on the PA website for the Pa Bulletin and I notice these documents occasionally when formatting them. This shows the relative progression of how these nasty buggers have spread over time. They don't fly long distances, I believe they "hop".

(November 1, 2014) - 1st notice
1. Establishment of Quarantine.
 A quarantine is hereby established with respect to District Township and Pike Township in Berks County and any other area or place delineated in an addendum to this Order of Quarantine as set forth in Paragraphs E. and F. of the ''Recitals'' to this Order of Quarantine.

(May 26, 2018) - current update to original notice
1) Establishment of Quarantine. A quarantine is hereby established for the plant pest Lycorma delicatula (Spotted lanternfly), which has been declared a public nuisance. The areas or zone of the Commonwealth covered by this Order of Quarantine are the following: Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, and Schuylkill Counties and any other area or zone delineated in an addendum to this Order of Quarantine as set forth in Paragraph H. of the ''Recitals'' to this Order of Quarantine.

Here's a link if you want to read all of the legal stuff. https://www.pabulletin.com/secure/data/vol48/48-21/825.html

I think the article that @CTDrew has above is a much more interesting read, thanks for posting it!

 

[wxtrendsguy]

Well I am in eastern PA and we saw our first SLF last year and this year we saw 5000....next year promises 50,000....
This will become a multi billion $ problem in the USA. The insects are being called an evasive invasive as they try to hide behind the trunk as you spray one side. If not actively controlled with insecticides they swarm on vines from June through October. They pierce the vine all over and suck the juice out and then excrete a honey dew which starts off sticky and clear but if let build up will turn into a black soot mold on the leaves. The feeding on the vines greatly weakens them by robbing the vines of needed carbohydrates as the vines head into winter. A hard winter and the vine dies, not a hard winter and following year production is severely limited.
The bugs originated in east Asia and arrived in the Berks County, PA area probably in 2012 and were first identified in 2014. PA dept of AG of course dropped the ball and did not areal spray the infestation. They are now showing exponential spread across the area. They are now widespread in eastern PA and can also be found in NJ, MD, DE and colonies have been identified in VA and NY. While a colorful and rather large bug they are truly disgusting, they will jump and cling on you, when you kill them they don't blow away or get eaten but rather pile up on your patio and where ever they fall. They cling all over your house, tasting room and etc. There are very few predators other than Preying Mantis'.
Management in the vineyard is a constant near weekly spray of various insecticides, very expensive and the vast majority of the insecticides have a very short residual effectiveness which means lots of reapplications...the problem is somewhere in there you need to do canopy thinning and etc. Another great feature is that when sprayed they don't always drop off the vine but rather die right there, which poses another problem as the bodies tend to get stuck in the clusters.
This insect has the potential to end grape growing in PA and many other eastern states as many of us are seriously questioning the economic viability.

 

[KevinL]

Spooky. We've got the stink bugs here in Illinois. I can't say I'm looking forward to this one making it to us. Thanks for the heads up. I dug around on the internet and found this article:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-02/america-isn-t-ready-for-the-lanternfly-invasion

 

[Bobp]

The more importing we do....the more pests we'll see....SLF is like the SWD for other fruits.

You'll want a good IPM plan and you'll want to follow it.....like so many other things get on a schedule and stay on it.....to surrvive.

Organics will fail or perpetuate the problem...

I have an aquaintence who claimed he didn't have SWD....while i stood there watching them swarm around..when i pointed them out he said..he said oh those fruit flys? After pointing out his perpetuation of a breeding population, he started trying to deal with it, as e composted most of the fruit....