The spotted lanternfly has made its return to Northeast Ohio amid an ongoing statewide quarantine to keep the numbers down.
The first spotted lanternfly is believed to have arrived in the U.S. through shipments from Asia with the first reported sighting in Pennsylvania in 2014. Spotted lanternflies are hitchhikers moving from state to state on trains, trucks and cars, and since it has no natural predator in the U.S., for now, it's here to stay.
"It's unlikely we're going to get rid of it in its' entirety," said Ashley Leach, State Specialty Crop Entomologist at Ohio State University in Wooster. "I think this is a bug that's here to stay. We need to mitigate. We're not going to exterminate."
Unlike the emerald ash borer, the spotted lanternfly doesn't pose an immediate threat to plant health.
The spotted lanternfly can be a nuisance for Northeast Ohioans due to the sticky substance called honeydew it leaves behind.
The tree of heaven is the insects preferred host plant, but it can choose to feed on others, Leach said. In large numbers, the spotted lanternfly can pose a risk to Ohio's vineyards and other agricultural industries.
"When we look at what it likes in particular, there's a couple of plants that kind of float to the surface," she said. "That includes wild grapes. So, we have lots of wild grapes in our landscape. We also have a lot of cultivated grapes in our landscape here in Ohio, and so that's why we see spotted lanternfly kind of take over grapes in particular."
Ohioans must stay informed and do their part to prevent spotted lanternfly from spreading, Leach said.
"Google spotted lanternfly life stages," she said. "Make sure that you know what those images look like," she said. "Check your backyard, check your car. You're walking in the park, you're walking down the street, you're at a winery, look around."
How to spot a spotted lanternfly
The spotted lanternfly looks different depending on its stage of life, Leach said, but killing the spotted lanternfly is the best way to stop the spread.
"See it, stomp it. ... See it, scrape it," Leach said. "If you see spotted lanternfly, you could certainly stomp adults. If you see egg masses, scrape their egg masses."
Egg masses can be found any hard surface outdoors, like trunks, outdoor furniture or vehicles. But they can be scraped off and either placed in methanol or sealed in a plastic sandwich bag to kill insects before they hatch, Leach said.
Young spotted lanternflies, otherwise known as nymphs, can look different depending on the stage of life, Leach said. Most nymphs will be black with white polka dot while older nymphs are black and red with white polka dots.
Adult spotted lanternflies will still have a black body, with wings that are look beige with black dots when closed but reveal bright red wings before jumping or taking flight.
In Ohio, the pest is primarily concentrated in major cities with large numbers of the tree of heaven, like Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, Leach said, so mitigation in urban areas can help prevent the spread across the state.
"All of these metropolitan areas are really going to continue to feed out spotted lanternfly," Leach said. "We have plenty of plant hosts that spotted lantern fly loves in those metropolitan areas."
The Ohio Department of Agriculture issued a statewide quarantine in February, after spotted lanternfly sightings were reported in 18 of 88 counties.
Leach recommends removing plants like the invasive tree of heaven to reduce spotted lanternfly populations in major cities and elsewhere.
