Spotted lanternflies are back in New York City this summer … and for the foreseeable future.
When they started showing up in the region about a half-decade ago, the advice to New Yorkers was direct: Stomp the little buggers. But researchers and state officials say that's essentially futile at this point.
“We know that it isn't going to eliminate them, really. To be perfectly frank, all of the management options that we have on the table right now are not going to eliminate spotted lanternfly,” said Chris Logue, the director of the state Division of Plants at the Department of Agriculture and Markets.
“This is not, at this time, an eradication program. It hasn't been for quite some time. It's really more of a slow-the-spread program,” Logue said.
And right now, the state’s major focus on lanternfly control isn’t in New York City, but upstate.
The colorful bugs first arrived in the United States more than 10 years ago in Pennsylvania, but have been a nuisance in New York City since the summer of 2020. Now, reports of spotted lanternfly sightings are increasing upstate and in the Northeast.
This is a cause for worry for grape farmers who are most at risk of losing their vineyards, Logue said. New York is the third-largest grape producer and the third-largest wine producer in the country, according to the Department of Agriculture and Markets.
Keeping track of the insect is the best way to help protect vineyards, Logue said. To monitor the spread, Cornell University has been cataloging and mapping spotted lanternfly sightings with the public's help.
“Reporting has been very helpful because this is an insect that is pretty easy to identify. Nothing else looks exactly like that. And when somebody sees it in an area where it's not known to occur, we ask them, if possible, to take a picture first and then stomp on it,” said Brian Eshenaur, an invasive species specialist at Cornell University.
Early spotted lanternfly nymphs are black with white spots, and as they mature, they turn red with white spots. When they are adults, they are recognizable by their pinkish-tan and red wings with black spots.
Having people upload photos of the polka-dotted insects to the university’s portal has been important to the state's efforts to track where they are and help grape farmers prepare for potential infestation, Eshenaur said.
“ We've learned that we have to monitor for spotted lanternfly throughout the growing season and even after harvest. Then, if the spotted lanternfly are present, there are insecticides that can be used to control them,” he said.
Eshenaur said it’s not necessary to report spotted lanternflies if you're in the Lower Hudson Valley or the New York City area, because everyone already knows the bugs are there.
The spread was always inevitable, he said. When the spotted lanternfly was introduced to South Korea, which is approximately the same size as Pennsylvania, it spread throughout the country in just three years.
Spotted lanternflies mainly spread by hitchhiking.
“There's some indication that they may have moved along rail lines,” Eshenaur said. He said egg masses laid on rail cars in infested areas like New York City, and have been transported to other areas. That’s why we’re also seeing isolated populations in cities like Buffalo and Syracuse, Eshenaur said.
The main thing New Yorkers can do now is to help stop the spread, according to the researchers and state officials. Logue said to check your car to make sure you’re not unintentionally transporting adults or their egg masses long distances.
As far as dealing with the invasive species in New York City, it’s business as usual. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is not as concerned with spotted lanternflies this summer as it was in the past.
“ It's just knowing what to expect, which is not to freak out. They're going to be with us,” Director of Horticulture Shauna Moore said.
This summer, New Yorkers can expect to see fewer spotted lanternflies in obvious places. In the past, they have been seen clustering on trees in massive swarms, but according to Kristin Winchell, a professor of biology at NYU, that shouldn’t be the case.
“They're pretty much just going to level off and be here to stay,” Winchell said
But spotted lanternflies are going to be around longer, she said. Winchell authored a study in December that found that the insect is living as much as five months longer than when they first arrived.
“ We're seeing them showing up on average earlier and earlier every year,” Winchell said. “And so what this means is more time that they are active in each lifecycle phase, more time that they have to find mates and reproduce and disperse.”
If and when you see a spotted lanternfly this year, you can still kill them if you want to.
“ If you want to stomp on them, I'm not going to stop you,” Winchell said. “But if you don't want to stomp on them, that's fine, too.”
