The Delaware Farm Bureau urges the public to remain vigilant when it comes to the spotted lanternfly.
The spotted lanternfly has been found in all three Delaware counties and can do serious damage to a host of plants, trees and crops. Heavy populations of feeding lanternflies can cause branch dieback, wilting, or plant death.
The invasive species is particularly destructive to tree-of-heaven, grapes, apples, stone fruits, walnuts, willows, and maples.
September is usually when lanternflies start laying their eggs - and so the Farm Bureau says killing them before they do and destroying any eggs when found is critical to limiting their impact in the First State.
The Farm Bureau’s Jenn Antonik adds finding and reporting spotted lanternflies is critical to limiting their impact.
“When you find one or two now, you could find 50 at the end of the season - you could find 100 or 200 next year. All of those lantern flies could negatively impact not just Delaware agriculture, but forestry in Delaware - we’re talking about state parks, about anywhere you might go for a leisurely walk. The lantern flies suck the life out of our plants.”
“The state of Delaware has a reporting place - it’s online - and you can report when you see a sighting, and they also have more information on identification and what to do if you see them, that kind of thing.”
Lantern fly sightings can be reported online at Delaware’s Department of Agriculture website, which also offers tips of finding lanternflies and dealing with them.
