[Pollinator] Update, re: Spotted Lanternfly - a growing threat to insect pollinators

[Kirk Wattles]

Just to update folks on developments in the SLF invasion.  Here's some of the news reported locally here in Pennsylvania (and now New Jersey).  Read the full articles, please.  I'm quoting a few bits, for a flavor of where we're at now.


(1) "The quarantine area has steadily expanded," Swackhamer said. "I’m certain it will expand again before the end of the year."



http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/environment/2017/10/08/tree-destroying-bug-on-njs-doorstep/618329001/




 (2) Emelie Swackhamer is one of the people working to contain it. Her video is a good introduction to the situation, as of this spring.  I've cued it to start at the 13m45s mark where, in May, she explains how they expected the quarantine to work.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXyfx5pBE1k&t=13m45s

(3) At a hearing this past week in the State Capitol, 

“Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding said the agency is on the hunt for solutions to the epidemic. ‘We have an exceptional team that has been working on this,’ he said. ‘WE ARE HOPEFUL THAT WE CAN FIND A SOLUTION, but after fighting this pest for several years, we know that WE CONTINUE TO FACE CHALLENGES as it adapts to its new surroundings.’” [Emphasis added.]

 http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/spotted-lanternfly-worries-berks-county-businesses


(4)  “Experts on the panel, however, cautioned that the focus of efforts to combat the spotted lanternfly's spread needs to be on the outer edges, where the insect can still be stopped.


“‘Our goal is not exclude the high volumes [of spotted lanternflies] on the inside, but IF WE DON'T DO A BETTER JOB OF CONTROLLING THE LEADING EDGE, it's not going to matter what's going on on the inside, because the inside is going to be the state of Pennsylvania, you know, the rate of spread that we're seeing over time, so WE HAVE TO FIND A WAY to contain it first,’ said Matthew Rhoads of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.


“Whatever is done, both lawmakers, agriculture officials, and business owners agreed that time is running out to find a solution. Schwank closed the hearing by suggesting that the committees consider convening again in January.”



 http://www.wfmz.com/news/berks/pa-lawmakers-on-spotted-lanternfly-we-have-an-epidemic/640386357


--
Kirk Wattles
kwattles at verizon.net


-----Original Message-----
From: barbara.bloetscher <barbara.bloetscher at agri.ohio.gov>
To: Kirk Wattles <kwattles at verizon.net>; pollinator <pollinator at lists.sonic.net>
Sent: Tue, Oct 10, 2017 1:45 pm
Subject: RE: [Pollinator] Spotted Lanternfly - a growing threat to insect pollinators

Before people panic too much,

Read the control strategy.  PA’s strategy and recommendation is to use Tree of Heaven (which is their main host plant) as a trap crop then remove them.  Although the spotted lanternfly may feed on apple, grape, willow, oak, walnut, silver maple, common lilac, poplar, eastern white pine, and rose, the current emphasis is to control the pest on grapes and Tree of Heaven.

Remember that most contact insecticides can be more detrimental to pollinators than neonics.

Please Read the following for more information.

https://extension.psu.edu/what-to-do-if-you-find-spotted-lanternfly
http://www.agriculture.pa.gov/Protect/PlantIndustry/spotted_lanternfly/Pages/default.aspx

Thanks for your post.


Barbara Bloetscher
State Apiarist/Entomologist
Ohio Department of Agriculture
Plant Health Bldg #23
8995 East Main St.
Reynoldsburg, OH 43068
ODA Apiary website: http://www.agri.ohio.gov/divs/plant/apiary/apiary.aspx
614-728-6373
Fax 614-728-6453
BBloetscher at agri.ohio.gov

Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2017 10:14 AM
To: pollinator at lists.sonic.net
Subject: [Pollinator] Spotted Lanternfly - a growing threat to insect pollinators

Friends,

We're having a problem here in eastern Pennsylvania which will likely have dire consequences for pollinator insects (and others) in a wide section of the U.S., if not nationally.

I'm not an expert, but I know that 1 + 1 + 1 = 3.

1 - The Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is an leaf-hopper-type insect that got started as an 'invasive' in Berks County, Pennsylvania 4-5 years ago.

1 - Official resources for containing and extirpating the SLF are inadequate. The would-be quarantine zone has expanded several times in the last two years, with nothing to suggest that the invasion will be contained.  Wherever the Ailanthus tree grows, they will multiply.

1 - Neonicotinoid pesticides are the only "best" treatment, and probably neonics (and other pesticides) will be very heavily used by official agencies, farmers, and DIY horticulturalists, and anyone who wants to protect their trees. With knock-on effects on many other insects.

I don't know how far knowledge of this problem has reached, but I see little sign of concern or news coverage outside of the locally affected areas.

I won't elaborate on the details of the problem.  Again, I'm not an expert.  I'm a beekeeper.  I heard through beekeeping clubs in the affected area that local people were freaking out, 4-6 weeks ago when the SLF graduated from the instar/nymph stage and began dropping from the trees in massive numbers.  When I investigated, I began to see how neonics were being promoted by word of mouth and recognized by the officials running the current efforts.  And how the invasion is in the mid-phase of exponential growth.

A lot of the relevant information and links are collected in a facebook group 'Spotted Lanternfly' and on a facebook page 'Spotted Lanternfly Watch.' (Links to those may trigger spam filters, so you can just look them up for yourselves.)  The main agencies involved currently are the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and Penn State University.

It should be self-evident, to anyone who knows bugs reading through that material (including the comments by knowledgeable observers in the zone), how bad this problem is likely to be.

--
Kirk Wattles

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