<div dir="ltr">re: <span style="font-size:12.800000190734863px">The Spotted Lanternfly and Ailanthus</span><div><span style="font-size:12.800000190734863px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.800000190734863px">I think Kirk Wattles is right to worry about this invasive bug. It doesn't just feed on Ailanthus trees, it attacks some commercial crops and some native trees, so efforts to control it are going to be vigorous. The weakness it has is its preference to feed on the Ailanthus tree in late summer and lay eggs there in the fall. This is the reason Pennsylvania is encouraging people in Lanternfly infested zones to dose their Ailanthus trees with neonics (imidacloprid, dinetofuran) before the bugs arrive.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.800000190734863px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.800000190734863px">Unfortunately, there are reports from beekeepers that honeybees do like Ailanthus flowers when in bloom. Bloom time is listed as June-July. I think one constructive step would be for PA agricultural authorities to amend their instructions to say something like "if you use systemic pesticides on Ailanthus trees, be sure to do so in early August, not before". This will give the bees 10 months before they encounter the pesticides in next year's flowers, which will reduce the effective dose. It will also ensure the dose is higher when the lanternflies arrive on the trees.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.800000190734863px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.800000190734863px">An alternative for those willing to do a bit more work is to use something like a horticultural oil spray on the trunks of Ailanthus trees. As this requires contact, it won't kill everything, but it should also get rid of egg clusters if they are sprayed. The PA Agriculture folk recommend inspecting Ailanthus trees on a property, cutting down the ones that are less attractive to lantern flies, and just treating the remaining ones. This should make whatever treatment is used more effective.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.800000190734863px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:"Droid Sans",sans-serif;font-size:13px">Dr. Surendra Dara, an IPM and crop advisor at the University of California , says "</span><span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:"Droid Sans",sans-serif">A parasitic wasp called </span><em style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:"Droid Sans",sans-serif">Anastatus orientalis</em><span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:"Droid Sans",sans-serif"> may have potential because it is reported to parasitize up to 69 percent of spotted lanternfly eggs in China." The USDA </span></span><font color="#333333" face="Droid Sans, sans-serif">Agricultural Research Service has recently started evaluating natural controls in China - see </font><a href="https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=338695">https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=338695</a> but it is often many years before such natural enemies can be determined to be effective and safe for release. Recently ARS and PA researchers reported than a parasitoid long ago introduced to North America for gypsy moth control is now attacking lantern fly eggs - see <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5270392/">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5270392/</a> . Since this parasitoid is already in the US, there would presumably be no objections to mass rearing it and releasing it at lantern fly infestations. The USDA is presumably studying this. <br></div><div><span style="font-size:12.800000190734863px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.800000190734863px">Clement Kent</span></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 3:00 PM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pollinator-request@lists.sonic.net" target="_blank">pollinator-request@lists.sonic.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Send Pollinator mailing list submissions to<br>
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Today's Topics:<br>
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1. Spotted Lanternfly - a growing threat to insect pollinators<br>
(Kirk Wattles)<br>
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Message: 1<br>
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2017 10:14:10 -0400<br>
From: Kirk Wattles <<a href="mailto:kwattles@verizon.net">kwattles@verizon.net</a>><br>
To: <a href="mailto:pollinator@lists.sonic.net">pollinator@lists.sonic.net</a><br>
Subject: [Pollinator] Spotted Lanternfly - a growing threat to insect<br>
pollinators<br>
Message-ID: <<a href="mailto:15f06a2bde1-c09-30e05@webjas-vae124.srv.aolmail.net">15f06a2bde1-c09-30e05@webjas-<wbr>vae124.srv.aolmail.net</a>><br>
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Friends,<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
I'm not an expert, but I know that 1 + 1 + 1 = 3.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
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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.<br>
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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.<br>
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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.<br>
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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.<br>
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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.<br>
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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.<br>
<br>
--<br>
Kirk Wattles<br>
<a href="mailto:kwattles@verizon.net">kwattles@verizon.net</a><br>
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