So many spotted lantern flies now!

The reports came in dribs and drabs earlier this year but yikes. I now see 4 or 5 up maple tree trunks each morning. I try to kill them all but I have Keegan with me. I'm experimenting with sticky-side-up duct tape around the trunk to see if it captures them. Please kill them if you see them. They don't bite us but they jump away fast if you don't get them with the first slap on the tree.

https://www.greengianthc.com/tree-care/spotted-lanternfly/spotted-lanternfly-host-trees/

If you use tape around the tree please cut it into a thin strip.  Birds get caught in the sticky tape if it is too wide and the outcome is often fatal.

There are now lanternfly traps available, I’ll try to post a link later.

i had 1 fly right into my car.

We’ve been fighting them since June. Sometimes killing 6+ a day.

funny, I've yet to even see one. Then again, I don't get out much.

They are fast! I was thinking of a way to trap them. They’re beautiful creatures though.

We’ve used an empty plastic bottle to catch them. Just put it close to one and it will jump right in. 
They also lose some energy when they jump so if you don’t get them on the first try, follow where it lands and try again. Usually get them on the second or third try. 

I was at Neshanic Valley Golf Course on Monday and there were hundreds of them. We found it difficult to remain on the terrace waiting for the tournament groups to check back in because the SLF were incessant!

blackcat said:

We’ve used an empty plastic bottle to catch them. Just put it close to one and it will jump right in. 
They also lose some energy when they jump so if you don’t get them on the first try, follow where it lands and try again. Usually get them on the second or third try. 

 Please describe how you do this? They jump through the narrow opening at the top, or do you cut off the top?

I suppose cutting of the bottom of a 2 liter bottle works. Line the inside with sticky-side-up duct tape. Is that the idea?

Thanks! 

drummerboy said:

A friend happened to leave a Ziploc over her outside railing to dry. She went out the next morning and found it full of dead ones. Maybe something attracted them to the plastic and then they couldn’t figure their way out? Whatever it was, it was an incredibly effective low tech way of catching a whole lot of them.

Heynj said:

A friend happened to leave a Ziploc over her outside railing to dry. She went out the next morning and found it full of dead ones. Maybe something attracted them to the plastic and then they couldn’t figure their way out? Whatever it was, it was an incredibly effective low tech way of catching a whole lot of them.

 Opened? With the open side down, huh? How did it stay on the railing?

The bottle sure worked. I rolled up a couple hours of duct tape exposing the sticky side.

I opted for a wider mouth bottle and got a huge number from just 4 trees. Hopefully those young maples by the street will make it.

PeterWick said:

 Opened? With the open side down, huh? How did it stay on the railing?

 Newel post at the foot of the stairs. 

Maplewood DPW seems to be on the hunt.  They cut down a neighborhood tree on the curb line without being asked.  I asked them what kind of tree it was and I believe they answered Tree of Paradise or some such.  I'm not familiar with that name.

mrmaplewood said:

Maplewood DPW seems to be on the hunt.  They cut down a neighborhood tree on the curb line without being asked.  I asked them what kind of tree it was and I believe they answered Tree of Paradise or some such.  I'm not familiar with that name.

 Tree of Heaven, it is the favorite of the spotted lanternfly.  They will go on other trees, and do seem to really like Maples.  But on the Tree of Heaven you will end up seeing hundreds, it’s absolutely disgusting.

https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/indiana/stories-in-indiana/journey-with-nature--tree-of-heaven/

Why is the tree of heaven a problem?

The tree of heaven is a problem because it reproduces very quickly and aggressively inhibits (and can even kill) native plants near it. This invasive plant produces an overly abundant amount of seeds, crowds out native species with its dense thickets and secretes a chemical into the soil that is toxic to surrounding plants.

When native plants are hindered or killed, it upsets the balance of the native ecosystem and biodiversity, potentially leading to extinctions of native plant and animal species across the whole ecosystem.

In fact, invasive species have directly contributed to the decline of 42% of the threatened and endangered species in the United States.

The tree of heaven affects people in many ways. Its aggressive root system can cause damage to pavement, sewers and building foundations.

The plant has also helped advance the spread of the spotted lanternfly, an invasive insect also originally from China. These insects seek out the tree of heaven as a place to lay their eggs. The spotted lanternfly, currently spreading across Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic U.S., feeds on and damages many species of native and fruit-bearing trees.

Or, you can let your local spiders help in getting rid of them! I haven't swept down the spider webs by our back entry for a week or two, and found this very dead lantern fly in a web this morning. Thanks, my spider friend!

I know it is pointless in the grand scheme of things but I have been culling them from the maple trees on our street. I have a long telescoping painter's pole that lets me reach high up to knock them off. I now see them in clusters setting up egg patches. I scrape them off when I see them, they look like little smears of spackle on tree branches and trunks.

UGH!

And also: Thank you for your service, as small in the scheme of things as it might be.

What do you do with the eggs? Do they need to go in alcohol, too, in order to kill them?  I saw a patch like that on a tree. 

RichardR said:

What do you do with the eggs? Do they need to go in alcohol, too, in order to kill them?  I saw a patch like that on a tree. 

 I have just been scraping them off the trees. Most of them are to far up to carefully remove the eggs. I was hoping to just destroy them that way but now I gotta research it. Thanks for pointing that out.

Well this is depressing as hell.

https://www.inquirer.com/philly-tips/spotted-lanternfly-eggs-identifying-20190925.html

cody said:

Or, you can let your local spiders help in getting rid of them! I haven't swept down the spider webs by our back entry for a week or two, and found this very dead lantern fly in a web this morning. Thanks, my spider friend!

 I stopped clearing all webbing since it comes in handy to catch them and free Halloween decorations as a plus.

They aren't so cute from under neath.  I opened by blind today to see a nasty looking bug crawling up my window....long legs, nasty red eyes....it was a SLF

Will probobly be bad this year. Never saw the nymphs in my yard before. 

I have seen any on my 3x weekly hikes this year.

It seems they have a natural predator - Praying Mantis. And the population of Praying Mantis, with big smiles of their faces, is on the increase.

Too bad, the Mantis doesn't like the Emerald Ash Borer.

Put them in zip loc bags and close them before you throw any of them away.  Advice from the DOA.  Particularly egg sacs.

Funny, I haven't seen any over here in East Orange, either, but I know they're there based on the gross sticky coating all over my car!

PeterWick said:

 I have just been scraping them off the trees. Most of them are to far up to carefully remove the eggs. I was hoping to just destroy them that way but now I gotta research it. Thanks for pointing that out.

Saw full grown ones for the first time this weekend.