Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine Now Covers All Of Bucks County

By Justin Heinze:

As the problematic spotted lanternfly continues to run rampant in southeastern Pennsylvania, officials have expanded the quarantine to the county level.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture announced this month to change the quarantine administration from the municipal level to the county level. Previously, while many townships and boroughs in Bucks County had been under the quarantine, the entire county was not.

Under the new regulations, the entire five-county Philadelphia region, along with several other counties, is under the quarantine. That includes Montgomery, Chester, Bucks, Delaware, and Philadelphia counties, along with Berks, Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Lebanon, Monroe, and Schuylkill counties.

"Eradicating the Spotted Lanternfly is important not only for our citizens, but for our economy, as well," Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said in a statement. "This invasive insect threatens to destroy $18 billion worth of agricultural commodities here like apples, grapes and hardwoods, inflicting a devastating impact on the livelihoods of our producers and businesses. It's also undermining the quality of life for Pennsylvanians who are coping with hoards found in many infested areas"

Nymph and adult spotted lanternflies can cause extensive damage when they feed, sucking sap from stems and leaves and causing the plant to ooze and weep. Not only does the plant die but the "fermented odor" caused by the feeding, along with the fluid excreted by the insects themselves, promotes mold growth and draws even more insects, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Collectively, the pest poses a huge threat to Pennsylvania's $20.5 million grape industry, $134 million apple industry, $24 million stone fruit industry, and $12 billion hardwood industry, agriculture officials said.

Officials added that along with the expanded quarantine, they are now seeking assistance from local and federal agencies along with universities to eradicate the threat. Strategies for fighting the bug change by the season, but are now focused on areas where bugs are transported, such as railway beds, interstates, and other transportation corridors where their most common host, the non-native Ailanthus tree, is growing.
Montgomery County residents who find spotted lanternflies are asked to take a photograph if possible, immediately destroy them, and then alert the State Department of Agriculture at (717) 787-4737.

Here are some more tips from the state those traveling through quarantine counties:

• Scrape egg masses from trees or other surfaces, double bag them, and throw them in the garbage, or place the eggs in alcohol or hand sanitizer to kill them. Egg masses, which are laid in the fall, are initially waxy-looking, grey-brown blobs, and later look like dried mud. Each egg mass contains 35-50 young Spotted Lanternflies.
• Check vehicles for egg masses before leaving an infested area.
• Buy firewood locally. Do not take it with you when you leave.
• Check lawn furniture, wood products, construction materials, tarps, lawnmowers, trailers and other items stored outdoors before bringing them in for the winter, covering them or moving them.
• Do not transport brush, yard waste, remodeling or construction waste outside quarantined areas.

Patch file photo