If you scrape off lanternfly eggs now, you’ll likely have to kill fewer adult bugs later. That’s the advice environmental experts have if you come across spotted lanternfly eggs during your fall and winter hikes in the woods.
The invasive bugs made their way into the northeastern part of the country, and were recently spotted in a forest in Easton. They die with cold weather but their eggs will likely survive from October through July. That means they’ll come back in the spring with the potential to damage trees and fruit crops.
Adam Goodman, a land protection specialist with the Aspetuck Land Trust, said Lou Bacchiocchi, the trust’s land stewardship director, reported lanternfly sighting at a preserve along the Mill River at 18 South Park Avenue. None have been spotted in Trout Brook Valley, the land trust’s largest preserve, said Goodman.
Like most insects, spotted lanternflies die in the cold weather once all their food sources are gone. They wait out the winter in a life stage like eggs or pupae that don’t need nourishment.
“It’s probably hard to feed on plants in the winter, so why bother living in an active high energy life stage?” said Sacred Heart University Assistant Biology Professor James Loving Lichenstein. “Better to spend the time as eggs that can weather the cold and lack of food.”
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) recently issued a press release identifying a troubling discovery that adult spotted lanternflies were found in Easton on grape vines in the middle of the forest, a location that was nowhere near Ailanthus trees, also known as trees of heaven, which are its more common host. For more information, you can find the press release on DEEP’s Facebook page.
So, what do the eggs look like? They are grayish and look like dried mortar.
If you find them, scrape them off the surface with a plastic card or putty knife and put them in a bag or container filled with hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol and leave them there, according to DEEP.
But don’t just look for egg masses on trees. Lanternflies will lay their eggs on all kinds of surfaces, including lawn furniture and vehicles, according to Lichenstein.
“Our advice is to follow DEEP’S advice and become familiar with what the egg masses look like so you can kill them,” said Goodman.
