Efforts to put a crimp in the growing risk of the spotted lanternfly to Pennsylvania's fruit and hardwood industry have gotten a boost from the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently awarded the state more than $1.86 million for activities to control the spotted lanternfly, and another $25,000 for public outreach. Control work began July 1, according to Shannon Powers of the state's Department of Agriculture. "USDA has since added $1 million for control efforts, as well as lending staff for control work at USDA expense," she wrote in an email Friday.
In addition to the control efforts, she said that the state ag department "has launched a social media campaign targeted at counties outside the quarantined area. Other public outreach is also underway," she said.
The state's ag department held two meetings last week with various parties, according to Bonnie McCann, its communications director. About 20 people attended the training session on Tuesday, Aug. 1, she said. They were state employees from the Department of Agriculture, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and PennDOT, "who learned how to recognize spotted lanternflies, their biology, and mitigation treatment."
The session on Aug. 2 in Berks County attracted 15 participants from USDA-APHIS and a variety of state-level affiliates, colleges and universities, and a few ag commodity groups whose products could be impacted by the invasive pests. Larry Kennel from The Vineyard at Grandview in Mount Joy, Lancaster County, a member of the Pennsylvania Wine Association's board of directors, also attended because of the bug's risk to the state's nearly 14,000 acres of vineyards. Like the previous day, McCann said, "this session was an introductory workshop designed to train commodity specialists and regulatory officials from other states on recognition, damage, survey pathways, control techniques, outreach, and preparedness."
While the insect has been found in vineyards in six Eastern Pa. counties, the most serious concentration has occurred in Berks County. It's native to China, Vietnam and India and was first seen in the state in Berks County in September 2014, according to the state Department of Agriculture.
The insect feeds on the leaves and produces a clear, sugary waste product called honeydew. A sticky excretion, it can lead to the growth of what is known as sooty mold on grapevines and other plants, eventually killing them.
Jef Stebben is the winemaker at Maple Spring Vineyards in Bechtelsville, which recently won an award in a PWA competition judgeds by sommeliers for its Albarino, a dry white wine. Bechtelsville is in Berks County, about a half-hour east of Reading. He said the winery and its vineyards "are basically at Ground Zero" for the insect. "The original infection occurred about two miles from our vineyard, as the crow flies," he wrote in an email Friday. "Various universities have come out to examine our vineyard and assess the level of threat to Agriculture. Needless to say, we have a large population of the bugs. We are finding that our normal spray program does a fair job at taking care of the lanternfles in our vineyard, however, we end up having large populations in the vineyard because we can't control what happens in the woods around our property. There are a lot of wild Ailanthus trees and wild grapes in the area surrounding the vineyard [and all over the state, for that matter] that provide a nice habitat for the insect."
Joanne Levengood, the winemaker and one of the owners at Manatawny Creek Winery, near Douglassville, said there's no shortage of the insect in their vineyards either. "I think the jury is still out on how big of a threat they are going to be to vineyards," she said.
Kennel's winery and vineyards are in Lancaster County, but certainly close enough to understand the proximity and its risk. He said that "researchers so far have not developed protocols to combat this invasive pest," making vineyards susceptible to serious damage. "One of the problems is that it can cause damage during the entire growing season since all stages of development feed on vines and a wide variety of other plants. Tests are just now being instituted to determine what insecticides are effective in treating the pest. We need to find an insecticide that kills the lanternfly without destroying the beneficial insects in the vine canopy." he said.
Levengood noted they have hesitated using the spray they have been advised to employ. "it's a pretty nasty pesticide - we don't want to use it," she said.
Another of the other Berks County wineries affected belongs to Blair Vineyards, outside Kutztown. "I am seeing them in my Stonehedge Vineyard in Rockland Township - they are starting to change from nymph to mature adults- meaning they are starting to fly around," owner and winemaker Rich Blair said in an email Friday. "I have not yet figured out to take care of them, except on a temporary basis - by spraying a insecticide. They will be a problem as we move into harvest - as we have to make sure we don't spread them into our Greenwich Township vineyard."
Stebben, at Maple Springs, said the agriculture department and Penn State Extension have come up with a method of using "bait" trees, where the majority of the Ailanthus trees are eliminated and the remaining treas are treated with a chemical that is poisonous to the insects but not to the tree. "This was somewhat successful, but, in my opinion, the population of the lanternflies seems to be growing much faster than the rate that they are affected by the bait trees."
The state Department of Agriculture has said in a press release that "this pest poses a significant threat to the state's more than $20.5 million grape, nearly $134 million apple, and more than $24 million stone fruit industries, as well as the hardwood industry in Pennsylvania which accounts for $12 billion in sales."
Kelly Murman, a graduate student in biology at East Stroudsburg University, volunteers with a collaborative effort by the U.S. and state departments of agriculture to study plants that the spotted lanternfly feeds on, according to a story last month on post-gazette.com.
The story noted she was "sampling black walnuts, hops, wild grapes and blueberries, all of which have economical and agricultural significance in the state."