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Spotted lanternfly presentation
- 1. Spotted Lanternfly: Reality vs Berks County Commissioners by Richard Gardner (rtgardner3@yahoo.com)
- 3. Blue Mountain Wildlife Annual Banquet January 2018
- 4. This presentation can be found at: https://www.slideshare.net/rtgardner3 /presentations
- 6. Editorial: A strong argument for help fighting lanternfly Monday January 15, 2018 12:01 AM (Reading Eagle) Berks County Commissioner Christian Y. Leinbach must have taken a panel of U.S. and state lawmakers aback with his strongly worded warning about the need for swift action to eradicate the spotted lanternfly. The chairman of the commissioners delivered his plea for federal funding in appropriately stark terms during an appearance before a legislative forum at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. "We need an immediate response. If we don't get these resources to us before the spring hatch in two months, it may be too late," (This insect was officially identified in Virginia on Jan.. 22.) Leinbach said. "The spotted lanternfly will wipe out the grape industry, could wipe out hardwood, and is impacting orchards." (I do not remember this much fuss made about the brown marmorated stink bug which does the same.)
- 7. "This is apocalyptic from an economic and environmental standpoint," he added. "We have heard from grape growers and orchard owners: One more year of this, and they are out of business." (These crops are so heavily sprayed with agricultural chemicals that the spotted lanternfly does not stand a chance. The brown marmorated stink bug does the same and eats the same foods. We lost about 2/3 of our beans and many of our tomatoes last year due to this insect.) Those of us who have witnessed the rapid spread of the pest over the past few years know that the commissioner is hardly exaggerating. (It should have been handled when it first appeared.) For a while it was largely limited to a relatively small, rural section of eastern Berks County. But in 2017 the pest was spotted in large numbers in much of the region.
- 8. The spotted lanternfly is native to Asia but came to North America in a shipment to Berks County, where it was first spotted in 2014. The pest, which destroys grape vineyards and hardwoods and has been seen in apple orchards, has spread to 13 southeast Pennsylvania counties. (Then why the panic? If it is in that many counties, there is no chance of control.) Leinbach needed to make a strong case because of the uphill climb he's facing. He is requesting $40 million in federal funding. (A total waste of money which can be better spent on schools.) Getting any money from Washington or Harrisburg is difficult right now. Getting it in a matter of weeks is even more challenging. If he accomplished nothing more than putting this issue on state and national lawmakers' radar, (I attended a workshop which included this organism and several more in 2014.) it will have been worth the trip to Harrisburg, though we do urge officials to find funding right away to combat the pest and research ways to eradicate it. (The only way this pest will be eradicated is if a native organism or organism system will form to do so. This will take time. The brown marmorated stink bug is under control now in an incredibly short time in ecological terms.)
- 9. Right now the problem is largely unknown outside this region. (This problem is known as an emerging problem by APHIS, EPA and professional ecological organizations, including one I belong to, MAIPC.) Leinbach is making a persuasive argument that it won't be long before it spreads to other states unless something is done swiftly. Each year the number of lanternflies grows, more eggs are laid, and the numbers keep multiplying. Leinbach said the number of lanternflies is approaching 1 trillion. (Wow. Definitely too late to act with an estimated number this big.) "If we are not successful," the commissioner argued, "not only will Pennsylvania face quarantines, the United States could face quarantines because Canada, South America, Mexico and Europe are watching it." (Then the problem is known outside this region. A quarantine will not stop this insect's spread across international borders with all the trucks it can hitchhike on.) Leinbach told the panel the plan is to prepare 40,000 trap trees in the spring. A notch would be cut around certain trees to seep sap and attract the insects. (The trap trees will be Ailanthus altissima, the larval food. Wound this tree wrongly and expect dozens of clones in response. Where there was one Ailanthus, there will be dozens. I did my MS Ecology on this tree.) The trap trees would be treated with pesticide. Money is needed to execute this plan.
- 10. But we should not be leaving the response to this problem to government alone. Landowners need to destroy the ailanthus tree, also known as the tree of heaven. (Cut down this tree without killing it and you will have a forest of them as a result. I developed an effective, relatively safe and environmentally benign method many years ago which can be used on this tree. Right now my best guess is that there are over 10,000,000 Ailanthus trees in Berks County from along highways to the middle of forests. There is no way that more than a very small percentage of these trees can be killed.) The spotted lanternfly feeds on it before reproducing. (This is most probably the larval food, not the adult food.) And people in areas that haven't seen the pest in the past should report lanternfly sightings to state agriculture officials. (Western Pennsylvania Conservancy is tracking the spread of this insect.) This is the year to get a handle on this program. That means a strong effort by all levels of government in cooperation with residents in affected areas. Leinbach's appearance in Harrisburg should push things in that direction. (This is a total waste of taxpayer resources. The problem is beyond control and should have been dealt with at first appearance several years ago.)
- 11. Another way to look at the problems with Berks County Commissioner Leinbach’s statement:
- 12. 1. There are numerous "apocalyptic" issues right now in our forests including: hemlock woolly adelgid, elongate hemlock scale, gypsy moth, dogwood anthracnose, thousand cankers disease on black walnut, sudden oak death, chestnut blight, Asian long horned beetle, emerald ash borer and at least 20 or 30 non-native invasive plants locally (which I can identify).
- 13. 2. There are probably at least 10,000,000 Ailanthus altissima trees in Berks County. Many are dying due to a combination of a native insect, a mite and disease. So eliminating Ailanthus from the local ecosystems to form a biological barrier to the spread of the Spotted Lanternfly is impossible.
- 14. 3. Ailanthus altissima clones when wounded. The question is how large the size of a wound which will cause it to clone? Cutting it down as homeowners and other land owners are apt to do will cause it to clone which means that potentially hundreds of clones may sprout from one tree, making the problem much worse. There are only a few effective methods of killing Ailanthus which prevent cloning and are somewhat environmentally friendly. The simplest and safest for most people is “Drill and Fill”.
- 16. 4. From the moment the spotted lanternfly was introduced, the control/eradication was impossible. In the same way the brown marmorated stink bug has traveled across the United States as a hitchhiker (I read that it is now in most US states after being first discovered at Allentown), the spotted lanternfly is beginning to travel. The one saving trait about this insect is that it is a hopper, which may slow down its movement across the continent. https://bugguide.net/images/cache/QZ1/L7Z/QZ1L7ZALRZRHIRKHIROZ7RSHGRKH8RZHKR WLXR2LZZULIRDZKR2LKRCZIRULLZ6L3LWLQROZ7R0HXROZ7RWLIR3ZMR.jpg copied Jan. 26, 2018
- 17. 5. The only way this insect is going to be controlled or eradicated is if a native organism - disease, predator or parasite or more likely a combination of these begin to use it as an energy (food) source. This appears to be what is happening to the brown marmorated stink bug locally.
- 18. 6. On January 22, 2018 the Spotted Lanternfly was confirmed in Virginia. The problem is now well beyond our control as it was from the beginning.
- 19. Our only real hope:
- 20. The Brown Marmorated Stink bug was first found in Allentown, @ 40 minutes east of our home. Unfortunately, I expect the same spread pattern between the spotted lanternfly and BMSB along the corridors I will talk about in a few slides. Locally, the BMSB population exploded across the landscape, but now appears to be in severe decline. https://bugguide.net/images/cache/QZ1/L7Z/QZ1L7ZALRZRHIRKHIROZ7RSHGRKH8RZHKR WLXR2LZZULIRDZKR2LKRCZIRULLZ6L3LWLQROZ7R0HXROZ7RWLIR3ZMR.jpg copied Jan. 26, 2018 https://www.invasive.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=53693 81 vopirf Jan. 26, 2018
- 21. The spotted lanternfly from what I hear is exploding in the same way southeast of here near Oley. The same pattern of an exploding population with sudden decline may be the best we can hope for with the spotted lanternfly.
- 22. What apparently happened with the BMSB is that: 1. Native birds which feed on native stink bugs began feeding on the non-native BMSB. 2. A disease, parasite or both have been infecting the BMSB. These organisms most likely jumped from native stink bugs.
- 23. What I have learned is that the closer the relationship of a non-native to a native, the more apt what I call “bioeradicants” will move from a native to a non-native.
- 24. A bioeradicant is a native organism which feeds on a non-native. Since the non- native is naïve or without coevolved defenses to organisms in the new ecology it may be possible to eradicate the non-native from the local ecology.
- 25. What I look for are native organisms using native organisms for an energy source which are generalists within a clade, but specialists to a clade. In other words organisms which “feed” only on a clade, but “feed” on many species within that clade.
- 26. These organisms can be anything from viruses, bacteria, fungi and other pathogens to insects, reptiles or mammals. The only conditions being that they use the non-native as an energy source and stay within clade boundaries.
- 27. In theory, the (naive) non-natives have few if any defenses to native organisms which feed on their relatives. This also means that there should be preferential “feeding” on the non-native over the native relatives because the non-natives are easier food than the natives.
- 28. Unfortunately, two of my sources say that there are no close native relatives to the Spotted Lanternfly. So, the process will probably take a lot longer than if there are close relatives.
- 29. A large concern of mine One of my biggest concerns is that the Spotted Lanternfly will begin attacking native Simaroubaceae in the southern United States such as Simarouba glauca, driving them and organisms dependent on them to extinction. This is the reverse of the jump Atteva aurea, a native moth, made from native Simaroubaceae to Ailanthus altissima.
- 30. My expectations of how the Spotted Lanternfly will spread from Berks County (and apparently already has)
- 32. The Spotted Lanternfly has apparently crossed I-78 in Shartlesville a mile north of where I live and is ready to go over Blue Mountain (and the Appalachian Trail) to enter Schuylkill county along either Rt. 501, Rt. 183 or Rt. 61 at Port Clinton. With I-78 being crossed it means that Harrisburg on the west and the Lehigh Valley on the east can expect to see this insect early this coming summer. New Jersey is only an hour's drive east from my home along I-78 and Rt. 22. I-81 is about 30 minutes west from home along I-78. That is a corridor to spread both northeast into New England and south into Maryland and Virginia.
- 33. Apparently, the spread through Maryland into Virginia has already happened. This may be a one time event where the Spotted Lanternfly jumped on a truck locally and jumped off in Virginia or be part of an unrecognized spread down a corridor.
- 34. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5086988,-76.0895897,11.75z copied Jan. 25, 2018 Expected local movement into Schuylkill County in 2018
- 35. https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=berks+county+road+map&fr=tightropetb&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mikegrims.com%2Fimages%2Fbigbigmap.jpg#id=4&iurl=https%3A %2F%2Fwww.greaterreading.com%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F08%2FBerks-County-Map-1024x623.jpg&action=click copied Jan. 24, 2018 Notice the box of major roads around Berks County. These transportation arteries are the primary reason the Spotted Lanternfly cannot be contained in Berks County.
- 36. Image ID : 4424905 Media Type : Illustration Copyright : Stacey Lynn Payne https://www.123rf.com/photo_4424905_interstate-map-of-the-continental-united- states-with-state-names-and-capital-cities.html Copied Jan. 24, 2018
- 39. glands
- 43. Aculops ailanthii, an eriophyoid mite
- 47. Atteva aurea
- 59. Drill and Fill Materials: 1. Drill a 3/8” hole 1-2” deep every 2” around the trunk. 2. Spray in 50.2% glyphosate (purple cap Roundup®). 3. Drill a 3/8” hole in all obvious roots leaving the trunk and fill with glyphosate. This method may be done from the time the tree is leaving dormancy to a couple weeks before dormancy and possibly during dormancy. 50% glyphosate chemical gloves spray bottle with “glyphosate” written on it cordless drill 3/8” drill bit measuring tape pencil or marker
- 65. The best way to control or eradicate a non-native organism is to look at native relatives in the same genera or family for what is using them as an energy source (feeding on it). The closer the relationship, the more apt a native organism is to adapt from the native to the non-native. I call this bioeradication as the non-native will be easy prey to the native organisms with eradication as a probable result. Biocontrol is the mistaken idea that introducing at least one non-native organism will control another already introduced organism. This often leads to at least another level of the same process as the biocontrol’s introduction leads to more unanticipated problems which means that the original introduced non-native control(s) need controlling. I do not look at single species of organisms for eradication, but a group of organisms which are working together such as found with Ailanthus altissima and Rosa multiflora. In both cases there is a carrier which brings a mite to the host plant, the mite and a disease carried by the mite working accidently together kill the non-native plant. This takes time to happen, often more time than humans like or human egos can deal with.
- 66. This is how we kill brown marmorated stink bugs around the house. It should work for the spotted lanternfly.
- 67. Rose rosette disease on multiflora rose
- 69. Drill and fill 1. Drill a 3/8” hole 1-2” deep every 2” around the trunk. 2. Spray in 50.2% glyphosate (purple cap Roundup®). 3. Repeat for all obvious roots leaving the trunk. This method may be done from the time the tree is leaving dormancy to a couple weeks before dormancy and possibly during dormancy.