[Pollinator] Pollinator Digest, Vol 1929, Issue 1

Tue Oct 10 15:31:32 PDT 2017

Good idea, but easier said than done.  I don't work with this new invasive,
but reports from people working in the field include feeding on stone
fruit, pome fruit, grapes, wild grapes, black walnut, and more.  Info from
China or Korea suggest populations in areas without Ailanthus.  We don't
know it's host range in this part of the US, and we don't know if feeding
on a host is conclusive for the ability to develop on that host.  Its a
univoltine insect, so good development/fitness data can be hard to get.

For the concern about bees: bees have also been reported to feed on the
honeydew that spotted lantern fly produces - and it produces a lot.

Shelby Fleischer, Penn State

On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 5:30 PM, Hilary Cox <crumpetlee at gmail.com> wrote:

> Why not just kill Ailanthus? It is mostly an extremely invasive species...
> https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/treeheaven.shtml
> Hilary Cox
> Leescapes Garden Design
> Avon  IN
>
>
> On 10/10/2017 1:32 PM, Clement Kent wrote:
>
> re: The Spotted Lanternfly and Ailanthus
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> Dr. Surendra Dara, an IPM and crop advisor at the University of California
> , says "A parasitic wasp called *Anastatus orientalis* may have potential
> because it is reported to parasitize up to 69 percent of spotted lanternfly
> eggs in China." The USDA Agricultural Research Service has recently
> started evaluating natural controls in China - see
> https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/
> publication/?seqNo115=338695 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 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5270392/ .
> 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.
>
> Clement Kent
>
> On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 3:00 PM, <pollinator-request at lists.sonic.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Send Pollinator mailing list submissions to
>>         pollinator at lists.sonic.net
>>
>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>>         https://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/pollinator
>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>>         pollinator-request at lists.sonic.net
>>
>> You can reach the person managing the list at
>>         pollinator-owner at lists.sonic.net
>>
>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>> than "Re: Contents of Pollinator digest..."
>>
>>
>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>    1. Spotted Lanternfly - a growing threat to insect   pollinators
>>       (Kirk Wattles)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2017 10:14:10 -0400
>> From: Kirk Wattles <kwattles at verizon.net>
>> To: pollinator at lists.sonic.net
>> Subject: [Pollinator] Spotted Lanternfly - a growing threat to insect
>>         pollinators
>> Message-ID: <15f06a2bde1-c09-30e05 at webjas-vae124.srv.aolmail.net>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>
>> 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
>> kwattles at verizon.net
>> -------------- next part --------------
>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>> URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/
>> 20171010/9a133869/attachment-0001.html>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Subject: Digest Footer
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Pollinator mailing list
>> Pollinator at lists.sonic.net
>> https://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/pollinator
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> End of Pollinator Digest, Vol 1929, Issue 1
>> *******************************************
>>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Pollinator mailing listPollinator at lists.sonic.nethttps://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/pollinator
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Pollinator mailing list
> Pollinator at lists.sonic.net
> https://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/pollinator
>
>

-- 
Shelby J. Fleischer
Department of Entomology
Pennsylvania State University
501 ASI Building
University Park, PA  16802-3508
814-863-7788
sjf4 at psu.edu
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20171010/72e4d233/attachment-0001.html>