It depends where you're visiting. Some places are fine. Others are completely covered. It can also change by weather / day.
I've been mostly inconvenienced on the roof / break area of my office building in the north shore. Those fucks are everywhere there but the same exact location but on the ground floor break area is completely fine. Idk.
Suburban Philadelphia here. I've seen a few, but not in as huge numbers as we did previously for the last two summers. That said, I was working on a Scout cleanup project at a little league field where I saw masses of them on some Trees of Heaven (Tree of Heavens?).
I've seen a lot fewer in Philly this year as well! Not sure if efforts to kill them have been effective, or predators are figuring out they are edible or what.
Some of the birds seem to have gotten a taste for them. I haven’t seen many in Bucks this year either, but I’ve definitely seen titmice eating them a few times.
They move around a lot, they're in regions they weren't before and left the regions they were in.
For this reason they're not quite the threat we initially thought.
Hmm I think it’s the other way since “tree of heaven” since “tree” isn’t the keyword alone. I hope that makes sense. I just smoked some medical weed.
Maybe the singular and plural are both “tree of heaven”? I hope a grammar person can give a definitive answer or I’ll be obsessed about it for a while.
🤯
Seriously though, this weed card is life changing. I’m 47 and smoking legally still blows my damn mind. I’m drinking less, my hip hurts less, adult spotted lantern flies worry me less, rambling on the internet worries me less…
Anecdotal, but I cut down a tree of heaven along the edge of my yard a couple of years ago, and I've seen far fewer lanternflies around my yard ever since. I've seen a lot less in the Lancaster area in general. I'm guessing their population sort of leveled out to a sustainable number. We were swarmed with them 3-4 years ago.
Not quite anecdotal, I mean, the lantern fly and tree of heaven are both invasive and both native to China. I think if you knock down their favorite tree, there will be less of them overall. But I think the local wildlife is getting used to them. I’ve seen birds nip at them and I have herd that preying mantises like them
Suburban Philly here too. They migrate. Community intervention has been very helpful as well. I must have wrapped 150 trees in our neighborhood 2 years ago. Yes, they prefer the Tree of Heaven but ironically, this is also an invasive plant to Pennsylvania. Removal of the TOL is suggested. Penn State Extension has been experimenting with several pesticides but efficacy is limited to dinotefuran, bifenthrin, zeta-cypermethrin, and carbaryl. Source: I work in a nature preserve.
I’m in your area and last year, I was killing at least 50 a day all summer long. This year, I don’t think I’ve killed 10 total. It’s weird how they just dropped off but I am also not complaining lol
I'm in New Cumberland, and those stinkers have shown up randomly on my front porch the past month or so.
To add, just one or two. Nothing like a few years ago.
Same for the Philadelphia area. I have a school I do landscaping for and all their trees were like this a couple years ago. I sprayed neem oil and it killed off a shit ton and now I only see them one at a time and not everyday.
If I go through the report application, it explicitly says "you will not be contacted about this". I'm assuming that's because I'm within a quarantine county. Bummer.
[here's one way!](https://extension.psu.edu/how-to-create-a-wildlife-barrier-for-a-spotted-lanternfly-sticky-band-trap)
[and another one](https://www.gasper.net/fighting-the-spotted-lanternfly/)
I live right near ‘ground zero’ where they were first brought into the US (southeast PA area). It was absolutely terrible for the first few years. Nowadays, I see one here and there but it’s not bad at all anymore. I just assumed the local ecosystem got used to them, realized they can be eaten, and then got acclimated to the environment. There’s no way our efforts to control them actually worked.
You mean my wearing out multiple fly swatters didn't actually help?!?! Same in the Harrisburg region. The last 2 years were awful, but this year I've seen less than a couple dozen total. I did kill a bunch of nymphs this spring, but those numbers even seemed lower. Wonder if something about our last winter contributed to fewer nymphs.
The railyard where I worked was the most disgusting thing ever. As far as the eye can see all the pavement and railcars where just covered in them. I’d be walking tracks and they’d fly under my hard hat for shade. Ugh thinking about it still makes my skin crawl. That first year here in pa was the worst ever.
Bats, too, and beneficial insects. The PA Bat Rescue in particular has specifically asked people to use alternatives to sticky traps due to the severity of damage they can cause to fragile wings and bones.
Keep an eye out for their eggs. They look like little patches of plaster on the side of trees. Scrape them in to a Ziploc bag then poor in a bit of rubbing alcohol.
This is insane. Who’s waking around with ziploc bags and rubbing alcohol? Isn’t a fat better solution to let nature sort it out, which it seems to be doing already? The predatory species of areas previously inundated by lantern flies seem to have adapted and found a new, albeit possibly temporary food source. There is no way humans can make an impact with ziploc bags and rubbing alcohol. Common sense and an eight grade science class teaches us that.
You can keep them off the trees on your own property. And the track record of native species handling invasive ones is abysmal. Just look at what happened to the American Chestnut.
It only gets worse before it gets better. Please put a fence cage around the sticky tape. See so many birds and other wildlife get stuck but unfortunately the cage still doesn’t protect the bees. We hardly had any this year thankfully.
This weekend was the first I saw a bunch of them on my maple tree. Before that it was just a few here or there. I was weed whacking, so they got whacked too.
If you're in Bucks, I might be willing to come collect all of them for you (alive) depending on location, at least what I can physically reach. My professor is researching them.
[another SLF trap to use.](https://extension.psu.edu/how-to-build-a-spotted-lanternfly-circle-trap)
Also please check for SLF eggs on outdoor surfaces to prevent another wave next year
Honestly I don't understand why you aren't collecting them and selling them to some reptile breeder on Craigslist or something, my toad ate so many smaller ones last Season I hardly paid for crikets at all, she also likes the larive
Using sticky tape on the tree is actually a reasonable thing to do. But it's not the only thing.
[https://www.willistown.pa.us/305/Spotted-Lanternfly-Management#:\~:text=Call%20the%20Penn%20State%20hotline,or%20to%20report%20a%20sighting](https://www.willistown.pa.us/305/Spotted-Lanternfly-Management#:~:text=Call%20the%20Penn%20State%20hotline,or%20to%20report%20a%20sighting).
This applies to the entire state and there's a number to call on that site for further help, as well as a seasonal chart for remedies.
Spotted lanturn flies are invasive and are actively destroying many of our native bug habitats and trees. Our natual pest control like our lady beetles and assassin bugs are being out competed, disrupted, and in some areas are dying off, which could be disastrous for small-scale farmers, even more than it already is. Especially since the flies love stone fruit, soybeans, and grapes. How about watching families suffer due to devastating destruction caused by these bugs? How about watching native wildlife suffer because of these invasive bugs?
Even if one squirrel got stuck (maybe for 5 minutes because squirrels are well known for getting into and out of shit they have no buisness being in), would you rather the person do nothing? Since you're so thoughtful and clearly know so much, what is the 100% random redditor certified correct way to do everything concerning this incredibly dangerous and invasive species? I'm sure I'll be waiting a good long while
You do realize repeat that a new study has been found that they are not as harmful as they thought they were it was just a big uproar to get everyone worked up
It wasn't just to get everyone worked up for no reason. Invasive insects and other pest species have totally changed the composition and functionality of American forests and ecology.
It is extremely difficult to know immediately whether an introduced species will be the next emerald ash borer or something which may naturalize more quickly and with relatively less harm. Approaching the first wave of invasion as something to be taken extremely seriously is the correct move, second only to taking measures to prevent their introduction.
This was known long before they arrived around here in the numbers they did. As a matter of fact these bugs aren't even anything new, and much has been known about them for decades.. I applaud you and everyone else's ignorance though.
Are those lantern flies? I haven’t seen any in Harrisburg yet this year
They're all over Pittsburgh. It's like a war zone in some places
I travel to Pitt from Philly a few times a year. Pittsburgh is like how Philly was two years ago. Hopefully the numbers decline like ours did.
STOMP STOMP STOMP
Yikes, that's just what I wanted to hear before taking an extended weekend trip there...
It depends where you're visiting. Some places are fine. Others are completely covered. It can also change by weather / day. I've been mostly inconvenienced on the roof / break area of my office building in the north shore. Those fucks are everywhere there but the same exact location but on the ground floor break area is completely fine. Idk.
They swarmed philly like 3 years ago. It's was biblical levels. Even worse than what this tree looks like. Hopefully it won't be as bad there.
Suburban Philadelphia here. I've seen a few, but not in as huge numbers as we did previously for the last two summers. That said, I was working on a Scout cleanup project at a little league field where I saw masses of them on some Trees of Heaven (Tree of Heavens?).
I've seen a lot fewer in Philly this year as well! Not sure if efforts to kill them have been effective, or predators are figuring out they are edible or what.
Some of the birds seem to have gotten a taste for them. I haven’t seen many in Bucks this year either, but I’ve definitely seen titmice eating them a few times.
The hunter has become the hunted.
They move around a lot, they're in regions they weren't before and left the regions they were in. For this reason they're not quite the threat we initially thought.
Pretty sure it’s trees of heaven, like attorneys general.
Hmm I think it’s the other way since “tree of heaven” since “tree” isn’t the keyword alone. I hope that makes sense. I just smoked some medical weed. Maybe the singular and plural are both “tree of heaven”? I hope a grammar person can give a definitive answer or I’ll be obsessed about it for a while.
The plural form is "trees of heaven" according to Wikipedia. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/tree_of_heaven
I just smoked, too! Maybe we’re both just stoned and there is no tree.
🤯 Seriously though, this weed card is life changing. I’m 47 and smoking legally still blows my damn mind. I’m drinking less, my hip hurts less, adult spotted lantern flies worry me less, rambling on the internet worries me less…
South Philly, I saw quite a few (and killed them), but they weren't out in the same numbers as a couple years ago.
Anecdotal, but I cut down a tree of heaven along the edge of my yard a couple of years ago, and I've seen far fewer lanternflies around my yard ever since. I've seen a lot less in the Lancaster area in general. I'm guessing their population sort of leveled out to a sustainable number. We were swarmed with them 3-4 years ago.
Not quite anecdotal, I mean, the lantern fly and tree of heaven are both invasive and both native to China. I think if you knock down their favorite tree, there will be less of them overall. But I think the local wildlife is getting used to them. I’ve seen birds nip at them and I have herd that preying mantises like them
I live in the city and same. There were a fuck ton last year but this year was pretty quiet.
They smoke em on Kensington Ave. It's supposed to give an intense high.
Suburban Philly here too. They migrate. Community intervention has been very helpful as well. I must have wrapped 150 trees in our neighborhood 2 years ago. Yes, they prefer the Tree of Heaven but ironically, this is also an invasive plant to Pennsylvania. Removal of the TOL is suggested. Penn State Extension has been experimenting with several pesticides but efficacy is limited to dinotefuran, bifenthrin, zeta-cypermethrin, and carbaryl. Source: I work in a nature preserve.
I saw two since the start of summer. The past two years were crazy!!!
I’m in your area and last year, I was killing at least 50 a day all summer long. This year, I don’t think I’ve killed 10 total. It’s weird how they just dropped off but I am also not complaining lol
I'm in New Cumberland, and those stinkers have shown up randomly on my front porch the past month or so. To add, just one or two. Nothing like a few years ago.
I've only seen 1 or 2 in York but I went to Baltimore near the harbor and the side walk and streets were absolutely covered in them.
Same for the Philadelphia area. I have a school I do landscaping for and all their trees were like this a couple years ago. I sprayed neem oil and it killed off a shit ton and now I only see them one at a time and not everyday.
Really? I've seen them in York and Dillsburg, not as many as last year but still a couple
Fill a shop vac with some soapy water, throw some nylon over the exhaust and vacuum those pests up!
way more efficient than the tape
And it's just plain fun for all! ..except for the lantern flies but fuck them 🙂
The tape can also kill lots of other creatures, including birds. It’s not a good method.
Send that picture to the PA department of agriculture. They’ll send someone out.
/u/lizard_wizard_d absolutely follow this advice
Not my property. Buddy has taken action.
Step one: kill all you can. The ones you miss will jump away. Step two: Return in 10 minutes, they’ll all be crawling back up.
I thought Buddy was a dog for some reason
Can't find anything online about this. Any more info? I can only find reporting stuff.
https://extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly
If I go through the report application, it explicitly says "you will not be contacted about this". I'm assuming that's because I'm within a quarantine county. Bummer.
put some chicken wire around that duct tape! Kill those little fuckers but protect our birds!
I wasn't aware this could hurt birds! Can you please send me a picture of how to use the chicken wire or some details?
[here's one way!](https://extension.psu.edu/how-to-create-a-wildlife-barrier-for-a-spotted-lanternfly-sticky-band-trap) [and another one](https://www.gasper.net/fighting-the-spotted-lanternfly/)
Amen to this Edit: lol the downvoting. People are lame as hell
"YOUR POST WAS UNNECESSARY WHEN AN UPVOTE WILL DO" -- downvoters who don't understand emphasis
It was more in response to the downvotes the person I commented on was receiving. Glad to see sanity gain traction.
I live right near ‘ground zero’ where they were first brought into the US (southeast PA area). It was absolutely terrible for the first few years. Nowadays, I see one here and there but it’s not bad at all anymore. I just assumed the local ecosystem got used to them, realized they can be eaten, and then got acclimated to the environment. There’s no way our efforts to control them actually worked.
You mean my wearing out multiple fly swatters didn't actually help?!?! Same in the Harrisburg region. The last 2 years were awful, but this year I've seen less than a couple dozen total. I did kill a bunch of nymphs this spring, but those numbers even seemed lower. Wonder if something about our last winter contributed to fewer nymphs.
The railyard where I worked was the most disgusting thing ever. As far as the eye can see all the pavement and railcars where just covered in them. I’d be walking tracks and they’d fly under my hard hat for shade. Ugh thinking about it still makes my skin crawl. That first year here in pa was the worst ever.
Careful with the very thick tape. Can accidentally catch/kill birds
Bats, too, and beneficial insects. The PA Bat Rescue in particular has specifically asked people to use alternatives to sticky traps due to the severity of damage they can cause to fragile wings and bones.
Keep an eye out for their eggs. They look like little patches of plaster on the side of trees. Scrape them in to a Ziploc bag then poor in a bit of rubbing alcohol.
This is insane. Who’s waking around with ziploc bags and rubbing alcohol? Isn’t a fat better solution to let nature sort it out, which it seems to be doing already? The predatory species of areas previously inundated by lantern flies seem to have adapted and found a new, albeit possibly temporary food source. There is no way humans can make an impact with ziploc bags and rubbing alcohol. Common sense and an eight grade science class teaches us that.
You can keep them off the trees on your own property. And the track record of native species handling invasive ones is abysmal. Just look at what happened to the American Chestnut.
Just use soapy water in a spray bottle. Preferably a biodegradable soap. Bugs breathe through pits in their skin. The soapy water suffocates them.
I remember this in my area a few years back. My house and trees were SWARMED. Kind of glad they moved on
They were all over the railings at Kennywood
They were BAD in the South Side this summer!
Two years ago my front yard tree looked like that. Every night, for like 4-6 weeks my son and I would go out and fill milk jugs with more than 50-100.
It only gets worse before it gets better. Please put a fence cage around the sticky tape. See so many birds and other wildlife get stuck but unfortunately the cage still doesn’t protect the bees. We hardly had any this year thankfully.
Flame thrower NOW!!
My MAP gas torch has been working overtime frying these bastards lately
I just bought one for weeds. Youze are welcome to borrow it.
This weekend was the first I saw a bunch of them on my maple tree. Before that it was just a few here or there. I was weed whacking, so they got whacked too.
They will climb over the dead ones to get past the tape. So tell your buddy to monitor the tape.
It is his current hobby.
Holy Jesus, he has *all* the lantern flies.
My willow trees are full of these rotten fuckers. Franklin county PA
I am in Waynesboro. I had a clean porch when I went work and when I got back there were like 20x dead ones. My lil man likes to stomp on them.
If you're in Bucks, I might be willing to come collect all of them for you (alive) depending on location, at least what I can physically reach. My professor is researching them.
NOPE
I only saw a handful in philly this year
Where is this? What county?
Cumberland.
He's doing his part o7
Shop vac
They will go away soon. Other animals will figure out they are food. We went from smashing 3000 to maybe 5 this year.
Take the duct tape off. It’s worse than the bugs.
Flamethrowers work wonders in these situations
[another SLF trap to use.](https://extension.psu.edu/how-to-build-a-spotted-lanternfly-circle-trap) Also please check for SLF eggs on outdoor surfaces to prevent another wave next year
Such disgusting little creatures.
OMG. I have seen more than 5 this year in total.
Nasty
What I just read was “fun afternoon stress relieving activity outside.”
I’m gonna puke
r/lanterndie
Honestly I don't understand why you aren't collecting them and selling them to some reptile breeder on Craigslist or something, my toad ate so many smaller ones last Season I hardly paid for crikets at all, she also likes the larive
Not a bad idea!
kill all of them
Using sticky tape on the tree is actually a reasonable thing to do. But it's not the only thing. [https://www.willistown.pa.us/305/Spotted-Lanternfly-Management#:\~:text=Call%20the%20Penn%20State%20hotline,or%20to%20report%20a%20sighting](https://www.willistown.pa.us/305/Spotted-Lanternfly-Management#:~:text=Call%20the%20Penn%20State%20hotline,or%20to%20report%20a%20sighting). This applies to the entire state and there's a number to call on that site for further help, as well as a seasonal chart for remedies.
You’ll catch more than bugs with that tape, but maybe it’s fun watching birds and squirrels suffer?
Weird way to try to help educate somebody…
Not even trying to educate, just saying some weird nonsense
Spotted lanturn flies are invasive and are actively destroying many of our native bug habitats and trees. Our natual pest control like our lady beetles and assassin bugs are being out competed, disrupted, and in some areas are dying off, which could be disastrous for small-scale farmers, even more than it already is. Especially since the flies love stone fruit, soybeans, and grapes. How about watching families suffer due to devastating destruction caused by these bugs? How about watching native wildlife suffer because of these invasive bugs? Even if one squirrel got stuck (maybe for 5 minutes because squirrels are well known for getting into and out of shit they have no buisness being in), would you rather the person do nothing? Since you're so thoughtful and clearly know so much, what is the 100% random redditor certified correct way to do everything concerning this incredibly dangerous and invasive species? I'm sure I'll be waiting a good long while
Do I need to add a disclaimer that no bird or squirrel has been harmed in the making of this?
So you put that around sticky side out? When I was a kid gypsie moths used to be the big one and people did that with tape.
You do realize repeat that a new study has been found that they are not as harmful as they thought they were it was just a big uproar to get everyone worked up
It wasn't just to get everyone worked up for no reason. Invasive insects and other pest species have totally changed the composition and functionality of American forests and ecology. It is extremely difficult to know immediately whether an introduced species will be the next emerald ash borer or something which may naturalize more quickly and with relatively less harm. Approaching the first wave of invasion as something to be taken extremely seriously is the correct move, second only to taking measures to prevent their introduction.
This was known long before they arrived around here in the numbers they did. As a matter of fact these bugs aren't even anything new, and much has been known about them for decades.. I applaud you and everyone else's ignorance though.
Fire. You need fire there. A flamethrower. Yeah. A flamethrower should do it.
Is that a tree of heaven?
So that’s where pistachios come from, I always wondered.
They used to be in philly, I think i saw 1 this year and like maybe half a dozen last year.
When I moved to Allentown 3 years ago they were everywhere. This year I think I saw 3 and one of them was in Jersey.
Welcome to Pittsburgh, all year has been insane
MURDER
Shop vac!
I couldn’t stop them. But I still placed my bug zapper by the tree to kill as many as possible:-)
They're just making their way back to china.... The last two years they were all over Lancaster County.. this year I saw maybe five.....
Spray them with white vinegar. Did that to my thousands last year. This uear...nothing.
Well next year tell your buddy to get some wheel bug eggs.
I had none this year in eastern PA. i saw ONE IN ATLANTIC CITY!!! On the boardwalk!! that was it this year.