Lantern fly hatch in central PA is back

[krayfish2]

Supposedly there is a pretty big population of them out not far off the Bedford exit of the turnpike. I used to have three clients that would go out there four times a year to shoot pigs

 

[Fish Sticks]

It is.

I'll also note that native species go through boom/bust cycles as well though. Sometimes as a result of human induced changes (to habitat, or to predator or prey populations), but sometimes totally naturally as well. Before humans walked the earth animals went through boom bust cycles. Nature is not perfectly balanced, stable populations at all. There's a real danger of the scientific community taking on this whole concept of balanced, and it's all humans fault for screwing with it. We absolutely do screw with it, and change what goes boom and bust, and when, with our actions. But without us, boom and bust would happen as well, just differently.

Native species can experience them your right but with invasive species its much more common and scientists are defining boom and bust as outside of the normal oscillations. With invasive species boom and bust cycles Its like the difference between a car that dies on you everywhere you go requiring jump starts vs a reliable one that dies on you once after 200k miles. The boom and busts are just more common with invasive species, sometimes to the point that the changes are so fast and drastic that ecological coherence as far as everyone elses ability to adapt is lost. This is part of why invasive species decrease biodiversity, one day theirs just a gazillion of them all of a sudden. This paper is helpful in trying to define what a “bust” is.

Boom-bust dynamics in biological invasions: towards an improved application of the concept - PubMed

Boom-bust dynamics - the rise of a population to outbreak levels, followed by a dramatic decline - have been associated with biological invasions and offered as a reason not to manage troublesome invaders. However, boom-bust dynamics rarely have been critically defined, analyzed, or interpreted...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Steeltrap]

We can scrap off all the egg area's we want....but we are not gonna get all the high one's.

I do know that when the stink bug invasion first occurred, I would get maybe 100 of the things in my house in the spring and then fall. Now I get maybe 25. I'm guessing the lanterfly will go the same route? But that's a SWAG on my part.

 

[Fish Sticks]

Whats the recreational super pig version of this game? Hummer mounted 50 cal?

Maybe have an f-150 pull a skateboarder on a rope with the same gear on holding a tennis racket with woven high voltage metal wire that frys lantern flies on contact. These guys begind boats holding spears, baseball bats with nails through them and swinging them within inches of each other really wanted that darwin award.

 

[krayfish2]

I believe those window screen traps with the 2 L soda bottle at the end are very effective in the first quarter of their life cycle because they constantly climb up jump down and climb back up. They walk right into the net, down into the bottle and that's all she wrote

 

[sixfootfenwick]

Tree of heaven I presume...?

As far as what I've experienced, I'm talking about my own property and maybe 500 acres of farms, orchards and vineyards all owned by friends nearby...

Those are the ones removed yes, but I may be removing 4 apple trees and a few cherry trees if they don't leaf this year, another dozen or so of each are barely hanging on.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

Whats the recreational super pig version of this game? Hummer mounted 50 cal?

I think there are places one can go and pay to shoot pigs from helicopters.

 

[JeffP]

I live in Lancaster County. For some reason we had no issues. Neighbors with similar trees were inundated. From what I have been led to believe, the numbers are down all over Lancaster/Berks. My mom was freaking out so my brothers got all he crappy silver maples sprayed. Those and the unsprayed ones are fine. I did a bit of research in the past and it seems they don't kill trees.

 

[sixfootfenwick]

I live in Lancaster County. For some reason we had no issues. Neighbors with similar trees were inundated. From what I have been led to believe, the numbers are down all over Lancaster/Berks. My mom was freaking out so my brothers got all he crappy silver maples sprayed. Those and the unsprayed ones are fine. I did a bit of research in the past and it seems they don't kill trees.

Yeah, that's what they say.

After 3 years of being malnourished, drained to the point of dropping leaves, they do.
A few of the trees were so dry they become brittle also and easily break in mild wind.

From a Penn State article:

"— Myth: The spotted lanternfly kills all plants and trees.
Not true, said Kelli Hoover, professor of entomology, who is among the Penn State scientists studying the pest. She said that while spotted lanternflies will feed on more than 100 species of trees and other plants, recent discoveries suggest they rarely kill them.
There are two exceptions: cultivated grapes, which is a grave concern to vineyard operators in Pennsylvania and beyond; and Ailanthus altissima, known as tree of heaven, which is a noxious and invasive weed tree.
However, Hoover cautioned that when large numbers of spotted lanternflies feed on one tree — regardless of the species — it must affect that tree, and her team is studying those effects.
“A stressed tree may be more susceptible to other stressors such as disease, other insect pests or drought,” she said, adding that saplings are more likely to experience significant stress from spotted lanternfly feeding than mature, established trees."

So they don't kill trees but can kill trees. They also don't kill trees but can make the susceptible to other diseases, which can kill them 😂

But at least they admit when large numbers feed on one tree it must affect the tree but they are still studying those effects.

Keep on studying...

 

[krayfish2]

Saw my first couple lanternfly nymphs crawling around today. Not looking too forward to their annoying presence

 

[Fish Sticks]

Saw my first couple lanternfly nymphs crawling around today. Not looking too forward to their annoying presence

Found some nymphs in a house I am renovating had same thought

 

[Kyle]

From doing a little bit of reading up, there are several wasp and hornet species that feed on lanternflies. At our East shore office in Harrisburg, two wasp nests in the entryway above the front door and just to the left in the flower bed, there's this gem. Looks like the booming population of lanternflies may also send the population soaring for some of our stinging friends. I offered my nephew $50 to hit it with a broom handle while I filmed it from inside the car. He's thinking about it 😁😂😂

thats a bald faced hornet nest. they wont bother anyone or less you bother them. then its game on. every hornet from that nest will go into attack mode. they are nothing to joke around with once they start attacking you. i have a nest every year in my yard and they leave me alone and i leave them alone and everybodys happy lol.

 

[troutbert]

Yinz think Harrisburg is "central PA?"

Then what is Centre County?

I've even heard Lancaster and York Counties described as "central PA." They're on the Mason Dixon line!

 

[krayfish2]

Yinz think Harrisburg is "central PA?"

Then what is Centre County?

I've even heard Lancaster and York Counties described as "central PA." They're on the Mason Dixon line!

South Central.... just like LA

 

[jifigz]

Yinz think Harrisburg is "central PA?"

Then what is Centre County?

I've even heard Lancaster and York Counties described as "central PA." They're on the Mason Dixon line!

I agree. I had someone from York tell me they were from Central PA when I was in college. I was like......central PA? I am from Mifflin County....that is Central PA.

But yeah, south central they say.

And I saw my first lanternfly nymph a few weeks ago here in Miff-Co. I am actually sort of looking forward to their presence as their honeydew and tree damage helps to feed pollinators, such as my honey bees, when there is basically nothing else in bloom. Summer time is a very rough time on honey bees and the lanternflies actually have some benefits to them.

 

[jifigz]

Centre County is the most central county in PA.

The spotted lantern flies have not shown up yet in Centre County.

They probably will eventually, but they haven't so far.

And given they are in Miff-Co, and have been now for about 5 years, they will be in Centre county soon.

So, my very scientific method of empirical observation tells me that lanternflies have spread along the RR tracks very easily. The Mainline RR cuts my parents property in half and they were all over there. Also, in other RR towns they have shown up. But if you get off the RR main line they don't exist here.......yet.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

My youngest has tied a few of them for our next trip to the Harrisburg area. (Am I allowed to call that South Central PA?)

 

[Bamboozle]

And given they are in Miff-Co, and have been now for about 5 years, they will be in Centre county soon.

So, my very scientific method of empirical observation tells me that lanternflies have spread along the RR tracks very easily. The Mainline RR cuts my parents property in half and they were all over there. Also, in other RR towns they have shown up. But if you get off the RR main line they don't exist here.......yet.

I live in one of the two townships that were ground zero for the Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) when they first appeared. We were quarantined and were not SUPPOSED to drive our vehicles out of the area if they were parked outside because the SLF likes to lay its eggs on hard smooth surfaces...

...like freight cars or locomotives stored on sidings.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

I live in one of the two townships that were ground zero for the Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) when they first appeared. We were quarantined and were not SUPPOSED to drive our vehicles out of the area if they were parked outside because the SLF likes to lay its eggs on hard smooth surfaces...

...like freight cars or locomotives stored on sidings.

Whoever was "in charge" of keeping the bugs in Dauphin County and out of Cumberland County forgot all about the numerous sea-land containers on the rail line and tractor trailers on I-83 crossing the Susquehanna 24-7. I have to admit that I didn't check our vehicle's undercarriage every time (or any time) we crossed the river.

 

[jifigz]

Whoever was "in charge" of keeping the bugs in Dauphin County and out of Cumberland County forgot all about the numerous sea-land containers on the rail line and tractor trailers on I-83 crossing the Susquehanna 24-7. I have to admit that I didn't check our vehicle's undercarriage every time (or any time) we crossed the river.

I'm glad that you didn't waste your life trying to enforce a "quarantine restriction" that was so ridiculously futile that it should have never been implemented or enacted in the first place.

This does not mean you don't try to stop invasives or take action, but at least make sure it even remotely makes sense. Checking the undercarriage of your car was one of the dumbest things ever. So is scraping egg masses, etc. This all has ZERO real world possibilities of even remotely stopping an insect.