“Plants and dish soap are not a good combination, as soaps can remove some of a plant’s protective coating,” Burke says. Penn State Extension advises gardeners to even steer clear of home remedies to control spotted lanternflies as some mixtures might harm children, pets and even the plants themselves. Synthetic pesticides are also not a good option because they are expensive, toxic, stay in the environment for a long time and may harm other organisms. They are also not effective on adult spotted lanternflies. ![]() Horticulture oil and insecticide soaps might help, she says, but would require applications every few days throughout the growing season. Gardeners might be tempted to reach for chemicals in an attempt to manage the nuisance pests, but experts urge not to do so.īurke says organic pesticides are not helpful in managing spotted lanternflies because they don’t stay in the environment long enough to be effective. “Honeydew is a horrible, smelly mess,” she said, “and it’s hard to clean up.” Penn State Extension Green Industry Educator Sandy Feather said honeydew is likely to have the biggest impact on home gardeners. Burke says the honeydew makes plants and other surfaces sticky. Spotted lanternflies in the nymph stage can’t fly, but hop and move fast.Īdults are seen starting in July and they are active until they are killed by hard freezes in the fall.Īs they feed on plant sap, spotted lanternflies at all stages excrete liquid waste called honeydew, which attracts ants, wasps and bees. They turn red with white spots as they grow. When they emerge from the egg masses in the spring, they are small and look like spotted ticks, Burke said. Spotted lanternflies go through four growth stages. “As adults, they tend to move on to deciduous trees.” ![]() “Spotted lanternfly nymphs love rose bushes,” Burke explains. The pest’s food preferences include more than 70 plants and change throughout its life cycle. ![]() Adult spotted lanternflies are attracted to wild and cultivated grapevines, Virginia creeper and tree-of-heaven, a rapidly growing tree that is also native to Asia. They will, however, kill saplings and grapevines. Phipps Integrated Pest Management Specialist Braley Burke says it’s important to remember that spotted lanternflies do not bite or sting people or pets and they tend to damage, but not kill, most plants. It is considered invasive because it has no known natural predators, spreads rapidly and has the potential to harm the state’s agriculture industries. Native to Asia, the spotted lanternfly was first spotted in eastern Pennsylvania in 2014 and is now found throughout the state. Nymph and adult spotted lanternflies are showing up in gardens and landscapes throughout Western Pennsylvania and they are probably not welcome visitors. Interested in learning more about pest management with Spotted Lanternflies? Click the video below to learn more from our experts here at Phipps! Greener Gardening is a blog series designed to help you make your garden, lawn and landscape more beautiful and sustainable by sharing the expert knowledge of Phipps professionals and educators.
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