Spotted Lantern Fly found in Warren County
NJDA and USDA APHIS confirms that the SPOTTED LANTERN FLY has been found in Warren County NJ: https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/news/press/2018/approved/press180717.html
The Department is asking for everyone’s help in identifying areas where low numbers of this insect may be.
Residents can email pictures of suspect insects to SLF-plantindustry@ag.nj.gov or call the New Jersey Spotted Lanternfly Hotline at 1-833-223-2840 (BAD-BUG-0) and leave a message detailing your sighting and contact information.
There are additional pictures and information of this insect at the following link https://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/divisions/pi/prog/spottedlanternfly.html.
OnTheEdge Thanks for the info! News 12 mentioned them the other day, but just said "look out for them" with no other information.
somechik 
Calico696 
GC 
Is this a young lantern fly? We’ve never seen anything like it before. It was kind of like a hummingbird the way it’s wings flapped. Very hard to get a picture of it.
BroadawayNJ 
Jesse132 
Botheredbyuu2 The first Spotted Lantern flys were found in a Christmas tree from Pennsylvania.Here is a link. http://askmarystone.com/dreaded-spotted-lanternfly/
enuffGoogle images. But I have seen them in PA, they were all over my father’s tree. I believe it is the larva that kills the tree. They cause a lot of damage.
Not that I condone killing creatures, but the only thing we are supposed to do if we see them is report a sighting? The article states that if you see eggs, is to put them in a double bag (but not kill the adults)?
3wbdwnj Those lantern bugs are narly looking. They probably came off a shipping container, from China, hidden in a bunch of MAGA hats. We were lucky enough to inherit their stupid stink bugs, also believed to have started spreading in PA. I guess it’s the ol’ gaslight routine, again. I appreciate this information. If I see one, I’ll now know what it is. Extra credit for the photos, Jesse.
I hope we don’t get those giant Asian wasps....the ones that are bigger than a hummingbird. So....how should we return the favor? LOL!
Guilty-Remnant Why should we not kill the adults if they are killing our trees? It doesn’t make any sense to let an invasive species continue to reproduce and cause damage.
Here is the article--still does not say why to be concerned- I am guessing it eats the trees????
SPOTTED LANTERNFLY SIGHTING CONFIRMED IN NEW JERSEY
spotted lanternfly - Click to enlarge
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2018
www.nj.gov/agriculture
PO Box 330
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0330
Contact:
Jeff Wolfe
P: (609) 633-2954
C: (609) 433-1785
E: jeff.wolfe@ag.state.nj.us
Invasive Pest Identified in Warren County
(TRENTON) – New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher today announced that New Jersey Department of Agriculture and United States Department of Agriculture personnel confirmed the first sighting of the spotted lanternfly in New Jersey. The sighting was made in portions of Warren County recently.
The species is currently in its nymph stage and is likely to be either black or red with white spots. The spotted lanternfly, which is native to China, India, Vietnam and East Asia, was first located in Pennsylvania in 2014 and has spread to 13 counties there. The pest prefers Tree of Heaven as its host.
The New Jersey sighting was made on Tree Heaven, which were treated to help prevent the spreading of the pest. Surveillance will continue in that immediate area as well as along the Delaware River border. Department field crews have been conducting surveys for this insect along the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border since 2014, from Warren to Burlington Counties with no previous findings
The spotted lanternfly has a history of being an excellent hitchhiker, having the ability to stay connected to vehicles that travel across state borders. The insect’s movement into new areas happens through the relocation of adults, nymphs or egg masses. The NJDA and USDA asks everyone who travels to and from Pennsylvania inspect their vehicles for the insect before returning to New Jersey.
The spotted lanternfly makes use of over 70 different plant species, including fruit trees, ornamental trees, woody trees, vegetables, herbs and vines, including agricultural crops like grapes. The lanternfly in its currents stage is about a half-inch to three-quarter of an inch long.
The Department is asking for everyone’s help in identifying areas where low numbers of this insect may be. Residents can email pictures of suspect insects to SLF-plantindustry@ag.nj.gov or call the New Jersey Spotted Lanternfly Hotline at 1-833-223-2840 (BAD-BUG-0) and leave a message detailing your sighting and contact information. For more information about this insect go to https://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/divisions/pi/prog/spottedlanternfly.html
kimberlysea 
I've been seeing a lot of small black mite-looking things with white polka dots. upon investigation, it seems these may be lanternfly nymphs. is anyone else noticing a lot of these around?
ianimal Ianimal, it most likely is. It is hard to tell from your photo. If you look at Fred B's picture and exchange the red color with black, that is what is around now. Their next stage is to get the red coloring. It is highly recommended to kill everyone you see. One thing, they are very good jumpers!
Mr 4paws It is hard to tell from the pic but that may be a carpet beetle. I just found one and it looked like that if the dots are more of a zigzag pattern. Also bad in numbers.
Yesimpc 
Ianimal, this was taken today in Phillipsburg. It is a lantern fly nymph. There were a bunch of them.
I work in Allentown. Two years ago there were just a few. Last year they were thousands just plied up in front of every business and home, and landing on you everywhere you walked. They had town workers constantly killing them, but it didn't make much difference. They don't bite or sting, or smell (like stick bugs do), so they're pretty much just a nuisance, but a huge nuisance at at that. It was inevitable that that would spread to here. End of July through September is when they are flying (or long-distance hopping).
Rich @Rich,
As household pests they're just a nuisance, but for fruit trees, grape vines, etc they can be absolutely disastrous. Not just for gardens, but for farms, vineyards, orchards, etc. If you see one just squash em, folks.
kingcoriander Seeing them in abundance on Schooley’s Mtn. Killing those I can reach but too many out of reach. Anyone else.
justwondering 
Dam Saw my very first one last Thursday - caught in a spider web on Mountain Ave on the Raceway sign.
I have tons of them in Panther Valley - I live by the woods so they are coming out of there. UGH - Soooo gross.......
Luca 
LibertyThinker The only way to get rid of these things will be removing all Tree of Heaven/Ailanthus invasive plants, their favorite host. These are tough to eradicate but will make the area less hospitable
iJay This year is just a taste. Next year they hatch here in big numbers. High in protein- dip 'em in chocolate.
callitlikeIseeit 
Really??? 
TJS 
Walking Girl We've had many for a few months now in Lopatcong. Beautiful insects, but very destructive.
Positive We noticed a few here and there early in the summer. Now we see them in our yard, front porch, back patio, etc. pretty nearly every day. (Washington Street.) They are extremely hard to kill; they jump fast and far.
Like we didn't already have enough things to worry about....
Monty I'm just off Musconetcong River Road in Lebanon Twp. I'm killing a dozen or more a day.
Bob3 
dodgebaal I was kayak fishing on Merrill Creek Reservoir 2 weeks ago and there were millions of them. I reported it to the state and they said they were aware.
tae111 
thehazguy 
Stymie 
Phil D. 
Killed hundreds of these yesterday and today. We are inundated here. They are selective in which trees they infest, and they also like to attach to the brick walls.
Stu In my case most of the SLFs were on an oak tree. A pecan tree on the opposite side of the property had quite a few, also, but not nearly as many as the oak. They seem to ignore some trees altogether.
We used a product called Amdro Quick Kill. It's available on Amazon. It was on the NJ DEPs recommended treatment list for homeowners. You can find the list of recs on this site: https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/pi/prog/spottedlanternfly.html
Scroll down to treatment options for homeowners and you can download a PDF.
Darrin 
nicosa Darrin ,You can put Dawn dish detergent and water in spray bottles and spray them off the tree. Spray them hard and heavy with two bottles blazing. Then rake them up and put them in a plastic garbage bag.
Walker 
CraftBeerBob Saw many today at riverfront park my wife and I tried to kill them but then soon realize that entire tree was covered so effort was for nothing, very sad I looked up how to report sighting and they don’t even taken report from warren county because we are so far gone
GaryLikesFishing22 My preliminary research indicated that the spotted lantern fly is poisonous/harmful to dogs. Do some additional research on this topic. Let others know.
tim It appears there is not enough data yet to determine if they are a danger or not to dogs.
Interesting article from Pa. stating dogs may be instrumental in locating the egg masses in the fight to limit the spread of the insect.
https://www.phillyvoice.com/university-pennsylvania-veterinary-medicine-study-dogs-spotted-lanternflies/
Greg They're quick to move when I try to stomp on them but only the first three hops before I'm able to crush them. Phillipsburg is literally swarming with them
Noname 
BC You are all a bunch of psychopathic killers destroying one of Gods creatures that has done nothing to you but fly by.
dodgebaaall Dodgebaaall, Do you like beer or wine? If you do these “flies” destroy hops and grapes plus a host of other plants. Death is justified and they are imports to the US.
zentravl "You are all a bunch of psychopathic killers destroying one of Gods creatures that has done nothing to you but fly by."
This is a joke right?
I'd sooner say you are a psychopath for believing in a mythical dude floating on a cloud somewhere that creates things just by wishing and commanding it.
You do know life has moved on from- What is thunder? Gods must be angry...riight?
Josh Dodgebaal, based upon your analogy, you had better not drive, or accept a ride, or live in a building or even eat, Millions of insects have died to keep you comfortable. I'm just following Governmental request as to the Lantern Fly.
On a walk in Riverfront Park - At first we thought someone had vandalized the trunk of this tree - but once we got a better look -through this photo - we realized Lantern flies had caused this huge amount of damage - This is by the river
4catmom 
the larger picture
now thinking someone did this to try to wipe out the lantern flies on this tree trunk
Philliesman 4catmom
I agree with "Philliesman". Looks like typical Beaver teeth marks and pattern relatively low to the ground.
You are probably both right --- though it is a pretty big tree for a beaver-- and there were no tree "scraps" on the ground under it that we could see.
4catmom
The bad thing is that this also looks like "ring-barking" or "tree girdling". No matter how it happened, it's very close to the 50% of the diameter to height ratio that can kill the tree within a day or two:-(
Here's a great article on the damage beavers can cause. It's mainly the bottom of this article that mentions beaver behavior. This is just the time of the year it usually happens:
https://www.beaverinstitute.org/management/tree-protection/
If you check page 5 of this pdf, you can see an example of beaver damage on a tree that's very similar to the damage on the tree you pictured:
https://www.nps.gov/dewa/learn/kidsyouth/upload/cmskidbeavr.pdf
Most interesting Phil D. Thanks so much for the information. And yes we agree that that tree won't be around much longer.
Def. beaver. I saw the chips below and teeth marks this morning. You can even see the path it is taking to/from the water through the weedy growth on the bank. Having said all this, it's a very large tree! It's going to have to strip branches off ...and even then, it might not be strong enough to move the main trunk.
4of4
It's obviously been "busy as a beaver". Hey, if the ant can move the rubber tree plant, then maybe the beaver can move that tree. Of course it could just be that it's the nearest one with a lot of branches, that's one of the species whose bark they eat.
Since the trunk splits so many times not too far from the ground, that will likely give it a huge harvest of branches and lots of bark to strip for food too!
Definitely beaver! Look at all those paired tooth marks;-) Like rabbits, their teeth keep growing, so it's instinctive to have to chew, chew, chew!
May be working on a dam and/or lodge nearby too. Not sure what animal control would make of it, but it may be a good idea to contact them, or the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife if you see widespread damage. They modify their environment, just as we do, but they can also cause major problems in areas as shown on this page:
http://www.gardenstatewildlifecontrol.com/Beaver_Damage_Management.html
That's NOT the state website, but does show and mention some of the effects of unchecked beaver activity.
The tree is gone - we couldn't even find the stump - or a sign it had ever been there - or are we just the victim of old eyes.....
We have several of the Trees of Heaven on the hill behind us and way more lantern flies this year than last year.
Smilingbecs How are the numbers in Washington Borough? They're having a street fair this weekend and trying to figure out whether it will be worth it to go.
If I'm constantly swatting SLFs, then no...
they are here by the millions now.two years ago you would see one once in a while.now they are everywhere .on the sidewalks on the cars on your deck.who knows for how long they will stick around for.i hope the birds get fat
mel I was at the new brewery on the main street Sunday. I didn't see a single lantern fly on the sidewalk. Had a beer and an eggroll on their patio. Only 1 bee. Go to the fair!
maja2 Several trees totally infested at Field Of Dreams.
My ballpark estimation is 10X-15X more than last year.
They are getting in my house. Flushed 5 so far. It’s a shame they are so destructive because they are actually a pretty bug. IMO
auntiel 
Hotdogchili Here all is a link for free milkweed seeds to eradicate the SLF and help Monarch butterflies from extinction as well:
https://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/pollinators/free-milkweed-for-monarch-butterflies/
AJMS They're all over Chester. I came in contact with 20 of them in just 2 hours!!
MansfieldVillager @hotdogchili
Could you please provide some studious on spotted lanternflies being "very venomous" - based on what I have been reading this seems like misinformation.
Was at my kids soccer practice at field of dreams. No kidding I saw about 15 of them in the 90 minutes I was there
D-ManPV I'm pretty sure they will be again soon. We have been seeing the nymphs in our backyard for a little while now.
The nymphs have been in our backyard since early June. The are growing and black with red dots recently. Windex works and my foot. Trying to get rid of as many as we can.
Mrs.Ward Sorry to say but these Asian imports will be with us forever now, just like the Emerald Ash borer, the Asian Stink Bug, Asian Lady bug, the Asian Tiger mosquito. All we can do is if you see them kill them. It will help to keep the population down.
Res2 They are going to be everywhere soon.if you have this tree in your area they will be all over it. Get rid of it.
https://images.app.goo.gl/aNQ8eTDHjex9rnBH7
Indie NJDA is no longer asking for residents to report sightings...
https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/2022/08/spotted-lanternfly-invasion-is-so-bad-nj-residents-no-longer-need-to-report-sightings.html
What a crock!?! ...in the site earlier provided:
"A spokesman with the NJDA said the state provides a list of treatment options for dealing with the annoying insects at www.badbug.nj.gov. In addition to providing counties treatment reimbursement funds,"
To find that NJDA provides NO 'treatment' except to continue stomp on them.
Which falls short of what should we do when there's hundreds or on the walls, plants, & everywhere else we just can't "stomp" on them, not on floor/ground level??
So instead I looked and found other sites say spraying them with a simple solution of vinegar, neem oil, and/or a mixture of insecticidal soap helps kill or immobilizing them. *Sometimes quicker, faster to smash them with use a Fly swatter*
Otherwise, 'a long residual that continues kill bugs for weeks' in Harris Spotted Lanternfly Killer sprayer.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Harris/5013306141?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-lwn-_-bng-_-LIA_LWN_241_Chemicals-_-5013306141-_-Local-_-0-_-0&ds_rl=1286981&msclkid=b3f2152da7bd16d20f2e77d8b120c57a&gclid=b3f2152da7bd16d20f2e77d8b120c57a&gclsrc=3p.ds
aol123@aol.com To Indie, in the absence of the Tree of Heaven, they will go to Maple trees. I have a problem with them on my Maples. They are adapting.
The state should just put a bounty on them. I know the neighborhood kids would gladly hunt them for $.25-.50/ea.
"Spotted lanternfly invasion is so bad N.J. residents no longer need to report sightings"
https://www.nj.com/news/2022/08/spotted-lanternfly-invasion-is-so-bad-nj-residents-no-longer-need-to-report-sightings.html
@Consigliere - It's 2022, that price per fly is way too low. Our entitled youth could never be subject to such an outlandish rate. That price would have to come up quite a bit to gain any traction with today's youth and expected pay scale.
Yup You’re probably right, Yup. It’s a shame. In the last 3 days I’ve seen easily 50 of them. I killed the 10-12 I could get to but they seem to be EVERYWHERE.
Has anyone seen a SPL egg mass on their foundation? I found something outside my garage that looks just like those pictures of the ones on the trees.
Courtney1 Leave a Reply
To comment on this topic, fill out the form below. If you would like to comment directly to one person, you may click on the envelope next to the posters name if they provided their email.