Insects Waking Up Now In VA: Spotted Lanternflies, Stink Bugs, Bees

VIRGINIA — A mild winter morphed into a balmy spring in Virginia, with flowers blooming and insects crawling out of the nooks and crannies where they lay dormant for the winter — your warm, cozy home, for example — ready to spawn a new generation.

Most of these six- or eight-legged creatures are beneficial — many crops need bees to pollinate them. Others are maddeningly annoying but otherwise harmless. Some others pose a genuine threat to fruits and vegetables and need to be dealt with before they cause harm.

Here are some bugs to know and what to do about them:

The Bug To Squish In 2023

There’s no need to squish most bugs, but when it comes to the spotted lanternfly, stomp away before their nymphs hatch in early May.

These insects, whose presence has been confirmed in 14 states, including Virginia, pose a serious threat to the nation’s grape, orchard and logging industries, according to the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service.

Eleven Virginia counties and 10 cities have spotted lanternfly quarantines to ensure outdoor vehicles and materials are inspected to help stem the spread of the pest.

To slow the spread of the spotted lanternfly, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services ordered a quarantine for Albemarle, Augusta, Carroll, Clarke, Frederick, Page, Prince William, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Warren and Wythe counties, and the cities of Buena Vista, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Lynchburg, Manassas, Manassas Park, Staunton, Waynesboro and Winchester.

Businesses in the quarantined area are required to obtain a permit from VDACS and inspect all regulated articles — including nursery stock, lumber, mulch and firewood — leaving the quarantined area to ensure that the articles do not contain any life stage of the spotted lanternfly.

Report spotted lanternfly sightings in Virginia and submit a sample (whenever possible) following the directions provided online.

• Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine
• Map of Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine in Virginia

Related: VA's Fight Against Spotted Lanternfly Destruction Starts Now

All spotted lanternfly permits for Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware are transferable and valid throughout the region, the ag department said.

The spotted lanternfly poses a major threat to the region’s agricultural industries as it feeds on over 70 different types of crops and plants, including grapes, hops, apples, peaches, oak, pine, and many others, authorities said. Their favorite plant to feed on is the tree of heaven.

The bottom line: During spring lawn cleanup, keep your eyes peeled for spotted lanternfly egg masses. Each female is believed to lay at least two egg masses, which can produce 50 or so insects.

By now, egg masses will have faded from glossy white to gray or brown, and they’re about an inch and a half long. If you find an egg mass, snap a photo and report it, scrape off the egg masses with a knife or old credit card, put them in a plastic zippered bag filled with alcohol or hand-sanitizer and dispose of the sealed bag in the garbage.

Spotted lanternfly sightings may be reported through the state department of agriculture’s online survey. Other informational materials are available on the program’s website.

In a few weeks, spotted lanternfly nymphs will hatch. They’ll be adults by mid-summer, and that’s when to squish lanternflies, before they can deposit more eggs. “Harming our city's wildlife is prohibited, but in an effort to slow the spread of this troublesome species, we are putting out a one-time call: If you see a spotted lanternfly, please squish and dispose of this invasive pest,” the New York City Parks Department said last August.

• Related: What You Can Do To Control Destructive Spotted Lanternflies

Become A Backyard Stink Bug Warrior

The brown marmorated stink bugs that snuck into your house last fall are preparing to leave and replenish their species. It’s tempting to let these jerks leave just as stealthily. (Stink bugs can rightly be called jerks because, once outside, they’re free to satisfy their voracious appetites by chewing through fruit groves and ornamental plants.)

In Virginia and other mid-Atlantic states, vegetable crops are attacked by several different stink bug species. The primary pest species include the brown marmorated stink bug, brown stink bug, green stink bug, and harlequin bug, according to University of Maryland researchers.

When you see them in your house at this time of year, be careful. Be very careful. Vacuum them up or sweep them right out the door if you have to, but do so as surreptitiously as possible because, when frightened, stink bugs emit a smell that will frighten you.

Related: Stink Bugs In VA, DC: How To Keep Them Out Of Your Home

If you do vacuum stink bugs, be sure to replace the bag immediately. If you have a bagless model, rinse the dust canister with vinegar.

Capturing them in commercially available traps is one option, but there also are several environmentally sound ways to tell them to bug out.

The Farmers’ Almanac points out that garlic repels stink bugs. They also don’t like mint — crush some dried mint around where you see them congregate; but mint is invasive, so be careful about where you plant it. Sunflowers and marigolds attract beneficial insects that enjoy a buffet of stink bug eggs and larva. Sprinkle food-grade diatomaceous earth under and on leaves of all fruits and vegetables resting on the ground. Or just make an anti-stink-bug potion with mild, soapy water made from dish dishwashing liquid, and spray it directly on the bugs.

Another Stinker That’s Full Of Beans

The kudzu bug, a relative of the brown marmorated stink bug, has found a veritable feast in soybean, peanut and other legume crops mainly in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states. It’s good that they chew through invasive kudzu — the “vine that ate the South” and is making its way into the Midwest, Northeast and Oregon — but these bugs also kill food crops.

They have no natural predators, and researchers are evaluating whether a tiny black, non-stinging wasp will be an effective weapon.

They like to cozy up inside your house when temperatures are cool, and if they’re distributed, they’ll emit a foul odor.

According to researchers, the kudzu bug has made it to Virginia, covering most of the state.

The bottom line: Rid your house of kudzu bugs the same way you would any stink bug — very carefully. A “true bug,” the kudzu is about the size of a ladybug, but dark-colored. Because they’re relatively new to the United States, researchers don’t know the full extent of plant hosts, including your garden plants.

Synthetic chemical pesticides are the most effective kudzu bug control measures. Organic controls are more difficult. You can try to brush feeding kudzus into pails of soapy water. Squishing them works, too, but be sure to wear gloves, and hold your nose.

Out For Blood

If spring is as rainy as forecasters predict in Virginia, expect an abundance of these bloodthirsty insects and, subsequently, tick-borne illnesses, such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and a few others.

• Related: Tick-Borne Babesiosis Is Found Almost Everywhere | As ER Visits For Bites Spike, Tick-Borne Illnesses To Watch

Tick bites requiring ER visits are most common in the Northeast, accounting for 48 of every 100,000 emergency department visits in April, up from 19 of every 100,000 visits in March, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Related: Tick-Borne Babesiosis On The Rise: What To Know In Virginia

In 2022, tick bites have accounted for 104 of every 100,000 emergency room visits in the Mid-Atlantic.

The bottom line: Protect against tick bites with anti-tick repellents for humans and pets. Chemical lawn treatments offer some protection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, but shouldn’t be considered your only line of defense against ticks. Landscaping, keeping the lawn neat and trim, and discouraging tick hosts — such as deer, raccoon and stray dogs — go a long way toward keeping ticks at bay.

If you have opossums in your area, they’re your friends. These marsupials devour ticks at an amazing rate; however, a 2021 study threw shade on the myth that opossums like ticks. They are fastidious groomers, and eat them almost by accident as they’re cleaning themselves up after ambling around the woods looking for something more delicious. Opossums eat worms, insects, rodents and such, but also berries, nuts, grains and, maybe, your vegetable garden.

Let It Bee

On the friendlier side of the insect world, queen bees will be looking for a quick meal in your flowers. They’re important pollinators. In fact, bees pollinate 75 percent of the food consumed by humans worldwide, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

Honeybees are in trouble. Their populations are declining around the world, and it’s up to us to do something about it. When you’re planting your garden or landscaping this year, lean into plants that encourage bees.

Here’s a fun fact: Bees see color and love yellow, purple, blue and white flowers, making echinacea, snapdragon, hostas and wildflowers excellent garden choices, according to Country Living, which has a list of 20 flowering plants bees love.

At least 28 states, including Virginia have enacted laws to save pollinators, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The laws generally fall into five categories: research, pesticides, habitat protection, beekeeping and public awareness.

Virginia's law instructed the commissioner of agriculture and consumer services to develop and administer a beekeeper assistance program designed to help Virginia beekeepers maintain healthy, productive colonies. In 2021, the Department of Agriculture distributed beehive units to some residents interested in starting colonies.

The bottom line: Unless they’re causing damage with nests built on chimneys or in wall cavities, or if someone in your household is highly allergic to bees, let bees be bees.

In cases where they do have to go, don’t kill them. Call a professional extermination company with the clothing and equipment to remove and relocate the bees without irritating them.

‘Parachuting Spiders’ May Drop In

The 3-inch Joro spider that dropped into sight in Georgia in 2013 is a genuine cult hero in the insect world. And why not? They’re huge, jumping spiders with a unique ability to “parachute” to new locations by using their webs to “ride the wind” to other locations.

Spiders are good little (if little can be used to describe such a giant of its species) critters. Superb predators, arachnids are a biological weapon against other insects and pests around the house, yard, garden and crops.

The bottom line: Learn to live with Joro spiders. They’re not doing any harm and may even serve as a tasty meal for birds, says Andy Davis, one of the authors of the study predicting their spread up the East Coast and a research scientist at the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology. They do no harm and may even serve as a food source for birds.

“The way I see it, there’s no point in excess cruelty, when it’s not needed,” said study co-author Benjamin Frick, an undergrad, “You have people with saltwater guns shooting them out of the trees and things like that, and that’s really just unnecessary.”