PERKIOMEN – As far as Russell Redding is concerned, the fight against the invasive spotted lanternfly will be won the same way the state beat the plum pox virus – “contain and suppress.”
Redding, the current Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Agriculture, made the prediction after a forum on the invasive insect held at Perkiomen Valley High School and organized by state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist., and state Rep. Joe Webster, D-150th Dist.
He said when the plum pox virus arrived in Adams, Franklin and York counties in 1999 “everybody said we would never beat it. It took 10 years, but we beat it.”
And they did it the hard way, slowly and methodically.
The plum pox virus virus, which is not native to the U.S., was spread by native aphids and agriculture officials not only had to control the insects, “but we had to cut out all the wild plums in the hedgerows and the woods, because they were reservoirs for the virus,” Redding explained.
That same kind of steadfast approach, at least 22 separate scientific studies looking vulnerabilities in the Asian insect; along with the uncommon cooperation of several government agencies and a willing public will get the job done, he said.
But it may take some time.
“We’re only two to three years in, but already we’ve got some promising research going on with a fungal adversary,” he said.
That could be particularly effective because it grows in the “sooty mold” that forms from the lanterfly “honey dew,” or “bug poop” as Dana Rhodes, plant inspection regulation official for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, more matter-of-factly called it.
“So if this fungi turns out to work, we know we can put it where the lanternflies are,” Redding explained.
In the meantime, while that research makes progress, the priority is to prevent the spread of the Chinese invader, and to kill as many as possible within the quarantine area.
Currently, 15 Pennsylvania counties are quarantined and the U.S. Department of Agriculture “is monitoring those borders with very active surveillance,” looking for any sign of the inspect, which has already made its way to New Jersey, Delaware, and parts of Maryland, Virginia and New York, Redding said.
So far, the quarantine has been partially successful since the inspect first arrived in Berks County on a pallet from South Korea.
The species of inspect here now is actually a native of China, said Rhodes.
She said it was accidentally introduced to South Korea, which is about the same size as Pennsylvania “and within three years the country was overrun.” But the fight in Asia may provide another possible solution for the U.S.
Richard Roush, the dean of the College of Agricultural Science at Penn State University, said there has been success fighting the insect with another insect, “a parasitic wasp which specifically targets the lanternfly.”
It lays its eggs inside the lanternfly egg cases, and the baby wasps hatch first and consume the lanternfly eggs before they hatch.
Roush and Rhodes confirmed that praying mantis and assassin bugs will attack and eat spotted lanternflies, “but they are opportunity hunters, they eat whatever is in front of them,” said Rhodes.
One woman in the audience she had video she shot of yellowjackets “decapitating the lanternflies and flying away with their heads.”
As satisfying as that may have been, said Roush, if praying mantis and yellowjackets were an effective control, “the lanternfly population would not be what it is.” Better controls are needed, he said.
Those controls include using sticky bands, or even duct tape with the sticky side out, around trees right now.
The spotted lanternfly nymphs, which swarm up trees all day long, get stuck there. To avoid catching birds, which can happen, put chicken wire around the tape band, said Roush.
Herbicides and pesticides can also work.
Because the spotted lanternfly’s favorite food is another Asian invade, the “tree of heaven,” they can be used as lures, a strategy perfected in South Korea called “trap trees.”
Roush explained that the female trees and removed, as they reproduce, and a few male trees are left and poison with an insecticide that the tree takes up into its roots. When the lanternflies feed, they die. “It’s very effective,” he said.
Also effective is taking down trees that the insects have infested and chipping them, said Rhodes. A study done last year found that no bugs or eggs survived the standard chipping process.
Sprays and other chemicals used to kill the insect in all its stages are also effective, but be careful to use the right kind.
Rhodes told one woman in the audience who asked about landscapers going door to door offering to treat yards for spotted lanternflies to check the ingredients of the chemical they are using.
She also suggested asking for both the insecticide license, and the business permit now being issued to ensure that businesses and their products being transported do not also transport the hitchiking lanternflies and spread them further afield.
Redding said businesses have been eager to comply with the new regulations, because “they don’t want to bring an invasive species to their customers.”
The state has implemented a program training drivers to inspect their vehicles to ensure they have no unwanted insects hitching a ride. Those who complete the training, get a certification.
“To date, more than 700,000 permits have been issued to 10,000 companies,” said Rhodes.
One resident said he had a cargo trailer he wanted to move to a storage facility in Adams County, but the facility refused to store the vehicle because of the potential for it to have lanternflies.
“The fruit growers in Adams County are really worked up about this,” Redding said after the meeting.
“They have a lot of contact with growers in Berks County. It’s really a pretty small community and they exchange a lot of boxes and packaging and they are very worried about this spreading.”
The lanternflies will feed on fruit trees and hardwoods as well as the tree of heaven, and can kill grape vines. One farmer reported a 40 percent reduction in grapes after just one year of lanterfly infestation, said Rhodes.
Pennsylvania is the nation’s number one exporter of hardwoods, said Rhodes, and the lanferfly will feed on maple and black walnut trees, as well as peach, grape and apple trees.
In addition to damaging Pennsylvania’s fruit, hardwood and burgeoning vineyards, it will also damage hops, which is a problem because Pennsylvania is also one of the nation’s leaders for micro-brews, Rhodes said.
This article first appeared as a post in The Digital Notebook blog.
