Provided by Prince William County Construction and Operations Division<\/p>\n
The Spotted Lanternfly is an invasive insect that can cause the decline, and sometimes death of more than 100 plant species in the area. The first sighting of the insect was confirmed in Prince William County in March of 2021. Since then, the pest has spread to all corners of the county.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve found them all the way up north in Bull Run Mountain and all the way down south of Woodbridge. Efforts to mitigate the spread have, so far, been unsuccessful,\u201d said Robin Firth, forest pest specialist with the county\u2019s Mosquito and Forest Pest Management Branch. \u201cThey\u2019re here, but they\u2019re not something that\u2019s going to hurt your family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spotted lanternfly, or SLF, is known to stress fruit crops with heavy feeding, but it is rare that the pest will kill trees or ornamental shrubs that are not stressed by other factors, such as drought or root damage. People who find the pest should not immediately cut down their trees.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unlikely that they\u2019re going to kill your plants, but if you\u2019ve got, say a peach tree, that you\u2019re used to getting peaches off of every year, if that tree is covered in SLF you\u2019re going to see a reduction in the food crop from that peach tree,\u201d Firth said.<\/p>\n
Instead, people who find the distinctive SLF should kill them if they can by spraying them with a 50\/50 solution of dish soap and water. Isopropyl alcohol can also kill spotted lanternfly nymphs that are black upon hatching from the egg masses and later turn black with white spots before turning red with white spots.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll throughout the winter, you can look for egg masses that look like silver or grey mud smears and then scrape or squash them. During the early parts of the year, either trapping or squashing the nymphs is something people can do,\u201d Firth said.<\/p>\n
Killing adult spotted lanternflies later in the year takes more work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other thing that people can do if they have Ailanthus altissima, known as Tree of Heaven trees, is buy systemic pesticides online that will be drawn up into the tree that they\u2019re applying it to. So, the trees draw up the pesticide, then, when the spotted lanternfly drinks the sap from the trees, the insects are killed,\u201d Firth said. \u201cThe active ingredient people should search for online is Imidacloprid 2F.\u201d<\/p>\n
Treating native trees such as oaks, maples and walnuts will result in native species dying, as well as the lanternfly, so it should be avoided wherever possible.<\/p>\n
Assistant Director of Public Works for Construction and Operations Luke Hisghman said the spotted lanternfly is opportunistic in its feeding habits, so it is hard to control them by simply taking away their preferred food tree.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven cutting down their primary food source \u2013 that tree of heaven \u2013 doesn\u2019t really work because they\u2019re not really that particular. They just move to a maple or whatever tree they can find,\u201d Hisghman said.<\/p>\n
Those who see SLF in the county should report them to the Virginia Cooperative Extension, or VCE, on the website at bit.ly\/reportSLFinPWC<\/a>.<\/p>\n Valerie Huelsman, VCE Environmental Educator, said people shouldn\u2019t panic about the pest, though. The extension offers resources.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still looking to encourage everyone to report them; and if they\u2019re concerned about plants in their landscape, to get in touch with our horticulture help desk and we can give them research-based information on how to deal with the spotted lanternfly if they do find them and they\u2019re concerned about the potential impact,\u201d Huelsman said.<\/p>\n