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Spotted Lanternfly and Wavy Leaf Basket Grass By Timothy Ohlwiler, Extension Agent – Horticulture, Virginia Cooperative Extension Fauquier County Office
Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula Spotted lanternfly (SLF) was first found in Winchester in 2018. It has since spread to Frederick and Clark Counties in Virginia. This planthopper is native to China, India and Vietnam. It is also an invasive pest in Korea. Spotted lanternfly looks to be a problematic pest on grapes, orchards, hardwoods and hops. It is also a nuisance pest in residential settings.
What can be done? With SLF there are two avenues to try and manage the plant hopper. The first is to eliminate tree of heaven. The removal of its preferred host plant will go a long way to reducing the chances that this insect will become established in an area. And tree of heaven is a weedy invasive tree, so glad to have a few less tree of heaven. The second avenue is to manage the insect directly. This is done by injecting tree of heaven with a systemic insecticide. These two methods have been incorporated by VDACS in the Winchester area to slow the spread of spotted lanternfly in the past two years. VDACS, Virginia Cooperative Extension and other partners continue to survey various parts of the state looking for spotted lanternfly. If you find spotted lanternfly, please contact your local Virginia Cooperative Extension Office or report it at https://ask.extension.org/groups/1981/ask.
Biology Spotted Lanternfly hatch from eggs laid on hard surfaces about the end of April. The eggs may be laid on stone, rusty metal or tree trunks. Egg hatch is followed by four nymphal instars. The first three instars are black with white spots. The fourth instar is red with black and white spots. And finally, the insects enter their adult phase in about August. There is only one generation per year in Virginia. They feed on over 70 different woody plant species, but their preferred feeding host is tree of heaven, Ailanthus altissima. In the juvenile state they feed on many different plant
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species, but in the adult phase they feed exclusively on tree of heaven. In September the females begin laying egg masses covered with a light brown protective covering and this is how they overwinter. It is also thought that because they lay their eggs on surfaces such as stone and metal that this is the way that they can easily be transported long distances to infest new parts of the commonwealth. As a planthopper they feed by sucking the juices of the plant. In residential areas the major damage SLF does is that they drop honeydew and then surfaces become sticky and dark with sooty mold.
Quarantine VDACS has created a quarantine for Frederick County and Winchester City. Businesses must obtain a permit from VDACS and inspect items that could be a risk for movement of spotted lanternfly. The business will inspect and complete an inspection statement when shipping items out of the quarantine such as stone, plants, lumber, outdoor furniture, wood crates, etc. To obtain a permit business must complete a spotted lanternfly training and submit their training credential and completed SLF permit application. For more information, or a permit application please visit VDACS at https://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/plant-industryservices.shtml.
Wavy Leaf Basket Grass Oplismenus hirtellus This was first found in Baltimore, Maryland in 1990’s, but it continues its relentless spread though local woodlots. Think of an aggressive perennial Japanese stiltgrass and you are well on your way to understanding this weed. It likes the shade, but can emerge from much heavier leaf cover in the woods than stiltgrass. It has awn (seed) that are sticky, and like a bur will attach to clothing and pet hair to travel along trails and with equipment to new sites. It is slightly larger than stiltgrass with leaves that are three to four inches long and a wavy leaf blade, which is how it gets its name. Hand weeding (making sure to remove the runners the plant is producing) and herbicides can both be effective at managing this weed. Seeds are produced from July through frost on this perennial grass native to southern Europe and Asia. Keep an eye out for wavy leaf basket grass and remove before it becomes established. •