By Stephen Smoot
Brilliantly lovely to look at, but dangerously deadly to American forests, the spotted lanternfly’s establishment in West Virginia has led to a determined response by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. If their policy had to bear the name of a rock album, it would certainly be Metallica’s “Kill ‘Em All.”
They came originally from China, India, Vietnam, and other areas in southeast Asia and emerged first in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Last fall, James Watson of the WVDA shared why officials have such concern over this creature. He stated that the “spotted lanternfly poses a threat to several important agricultural crops, namely grapes and hops, and then unfortunately several of our important forestry trees, specifically black walnut, staghorn sumac, sugar maple, and red maple.”
They prefer congregating on and near the tree of heaven, itself an invasive species brought in the 1700s, then again in the 1800s for ornamental planting and reforestation. Its resilience and quick spread accentuated the damage it does by attracting pests, outcompeting native plant life, and also poisoning the soil to prevent other plants from taking hold.
In West Virginia, the winged pest has infiltrated the entire eastern panhandle, North Central West Virginia as far south as Harrison County, and also the northern panhandle.
Scott Hoffman with the WVDA shared that eradication projects start in the areas around where humans gather when traveling and conducting commerce, such as truck stops. The spotted lanternfly is a capable hitchhiker in human transport.
“They’ve spread in a big way, and not just in West Virginia,” he noted.
Watson stated last year that “with a vehicle, it’s important to check materials you’re transporting and your vehicles and yourself when you’re moving around to make sure you’re not taking the spotted lanternfly from one location to another,” he said. “So, check for hitchhikers.”
He also explained that once a spotted lanternfly has established a population, complete eradication may never be possible. The way to control populations lies in eradicating their preferred habitat. Watson encourages others to “learn to identify the tree of heaven, and remove the tree of heaven to reduce the magnitude of the infestation as it moves out into the county.”
The tree of heaven generally is the size of brush or a small tree, but can grow to 80 feet. Once they reach six feet, their roots can regenerate the tree if one merely cuts it down or digs it from the ground. Chemical or other effective herbicides are needed to kill them.
The United States Department of Agriculture officials state that herbicides can be used to kill this pestilent plant in four ways, by spraying on the foliage, injecting through the bark of the tree, cut stump application, and basal bark application. It also provides information on which specific herbicides would be used in each specific technique.
A WVDA website also urges landowners to conduct “egg mass scraping/smashing. This task can be completed in November up to whenever the insects hatch from the egg masses.”
Egg masses can contain between 30 and 50 eggs. The website recommends that “to destroy the egg mass, simply use a sharp flat object such as a putty knife or a plastic bucket opener to scrape/roll over the egg mass in a top-down direction.” Scraping in the opposite direction can allow eggs to drop free and hatch from the ground later.
Additionally, the WVDA continues to keep track of the discovery of these insects wherever they may be. To report an infestation, send an e-mail to the West Virginia Department of Agriculture invasive species detection account at bu********@**da.us or call 304-558-2212.
