Hudson Valley, Long Island Brace For Spotted Lanternfly Season

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — April's here, and arborist Jim Wickes is bracing for infestations of the spotted lanternfly, the latest invasive bug species to wreak havoc on trees and other plants in New York.

This one could also seriously curtail your enjoyment of the outdoors this summer, he warned. Mature lanternflies secrete so much "honeydew" as they feed that it attracts wasps, ants and bees. It builds up and promotes the growth of smelly, sooty mold that can cover not only forest understories but your shrubs, garden, cars and deck.

"They can ruin patio furniture," he told Patch. "It's a very pretty insect except when it lands in your cocktail at your barbecue. And they come in thousands. I've been to a wedding where they had to sweep off the steps of the church."

In Pennsylvania where the invasion was first reported in 2014 and populations are the highest, people can't even be outside without getting honeydew on their hair, clothes, and other belongings, according to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

In 2022, spotted lanternfly infestations were reported in Ulster, Orange, Rockland, Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk, Broome and Tompkins counties and in New York City, according to Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

This year, the Hudson Valley is "in the bullseye," he said.

It's frustrating how spotted lanternflies spread, Wickes said. "They can migrate about 4 miles a year, but many are hitchhiking across our state."

Though they can only jump and fly short distances, they get a lot of inadvertent help from humans since they like to lay their eggs on things we move around.

"It's along the major corridors — 87, 287, 84 — all these main transportation routes are showing these infestations," he said. "You get these regional explosions where you have large populations of host trees. It has a lot to do with heat and heat sinks ... We are seeing what climate change is doing to our plants and our planet, we see it every day."

This year, their impact on New York’s orchards and vineyards could be big, Wickes said.

The nymphs feed on nearly 100 varieties of plants including ornamental and woody trees, fruit, vines, vegetables, herbs and grains. The adults love another invasive species, Ailanthus, also known as "tree-of-heaven" and "trash tree."

Sadly, they also love many agricultural crops.

SLF is a pest of apples, grapes, hops, maple, walnut, and others, the state Department of Agriculture & Markets said on its website. "New York is estimated to produce more than 30 million bushels of apples each year, while grapes in New York are valued at an annual harvest of $52.8 million. Additionally, the expanding hops industry and the maple and timber industries would also be negatively impacted by the spread of SLF."

In 2018, the state Department of Environmental Conservation established protection zones in 20 counties including Long Island and the Hudson Valley, which are still in place today and allow DEC to continue taking reasonable steps and exercise due diligence in notifying, working cooperatively with, and entering into agreements with affected landowners as appropriate. The counties are Bronx, Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Delaware, Dutchess, Greene, Kings, Nassau, Orange, Otsego, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, Sullivan, Tioga, Ulster and Westchester.

April is a pivotal month for the spotted lanternfly, as April and May are when the eggs begin to hatch and the black nymphs appear. They’ll become red around July, the final stage before they can fly and lay eggs — unless New Yorkers can kill them first. Adult spotted lanternflies can be seen from July until December, according to the state agriculture department. They lay egg masses from September through December.

About those egg masses. Don't only examine the trees on your property, Wickes said — you need to look at the woodpile, stone walls, rough concrete walls, rusty metal — even on your car.

They're about an inch long and brownish-gray. The coating, shiny and waxy when first laid, will become scaly by spring.

Spotted lanternflies don’t kill a plant or tree outright, so they're not like the gypsy moth caterpillars that ruined so many parks and forests in the Hudson Valley in the 1980s, he said. But they weaken a plant — often to the point that it can’t resist disease, severe weather or other predators.

Wickes knows whereof he speaks. He spent time as an orchard worker and manager at Viola Orchards in Monsey, became a climber then a foreman in his family’s business, Rockland Tree Expert Co., now Wickes arborists, and expanded into horticultural consultancy. He's also a founder of and mentor at Rockland BOCES' P-Tech program.

"I've been doing this for 42 years, my father before me and his father before him. We've seen many infestations. The SLF is probably the largest infestation we've ever experienced," he said.

The state has been getting help from volunteers since 2021 to survey specific locations for both the bugs and its plant of choice, tree-of-heaven. The 2023 program will start up soon. Find out more here.

Even if you're not going to become a citizen-scientist, there are things you can do around your house: check for an infestation and then deal with it properly and thoroughly.

What you need to do

• Inspect outdoor items such as firewood, vehicles, and furniture for egg masses.
• If you visit other states with SLF, be sure to check all equipment and gear before leaving. Scrape off any egg masses.
• Destroy egg masses by putting them in a bucket of hot, soapy water or a baggie/jar of hand sanitizer.
• Report your sighting. Take pictures of the insect, egg masses and/or infestation signs as described above (include something for scale such as a coin or ruler) and email to spottedlanternfly@agriculture.ny.gov or fill out the Department of Agriculture and Markets' reporting form. Note the location (address, intersecting roads, landmarks or GPS coordinates).
• A Smartphone application is also available to help citizens and conservation professionals quickly and easily report new invasive species sightings directly to New York's invasive species database from their phones. For more information, visit New York's invasive species database.

Signs of an Infestation

• Sap oozing or weeping from tiny open wounds on tree trunks, which appear wet and may give off fermented odors.
• One-inch-long egg masses that are brownish-gray, waxy and mud-like when new. Old egg masses are brown and scaly.
• Massive honeydew build-up under plants, sometimes with black sooty mold.

"What's needed is research, it's education, it's community action and community preparedness, not unsimilar to how we've handled the emerald ash borer — which is wiping out any untreated tree in Rockland County," Wickes said.

"People who aren't proactive are going to find these migrating into their yards," he said, urging people to get together and have host trees in their neighborhoods treated professionally.

"Early action is the best defense," he said. "If we wait until the adult lanternfly lands in our cocktail, we're going to need a stronger pesticide."

DIY Project

New Jersey Patch collaborated with Duke Farms environmental experts to show readers how to make do-it-yourself lanternfly traps. (See the 11-minute step-by-step video below.)
You’ll need:

• 2 plastic 1-gallon milk or water jugs that can be cut with scissors
• 2 one-half-inch thick rubber bands
• 1 22-inch-long piece of 16-gauge metal wire
• 1 24-inch-by-36-inch plastic coated screen, such as a window screen replacement
• 1 2.5-gallon Ziplock bag
• 1 6-inch long piece of all-weather tape
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• All-natural string or twine