Not many people like bugs, I know I don’t, but this particular bug has been holding a lot of interest for us recently.
Imagine you’re outside... enjoying the beautiful weather. And all of the sudden, a one inch long, half-inch thick bug comes flying at you. In pure terror, you swat at it, striking it to the ground….at least that’s what I would do. You take a look at it and discover that it is a Spotted Lanternfly.
These were first spotted in the USA, in Berks County, Pennsylvania. But you might be wondering, what are these oddly beautiful but pesky bugs? And where are they from?
Well, you see, these strange insects are originally from different parts of Vietnam, India, and China, all parts of Asia. They have spread to different parts of Asia.
You want to go bug hunting? Here are some ways to identify this mischievous insect:
The clusters of eggs are coated in a wax-like substance that looks like mud after it’s dried.
One tree that these buggers like, is the Tree of Heaven.
Use photos to compare if you think you’ve found one
If you find them, you’ll want to know how to stop them… here are some ideas that might help you on your bug demolition quest.
The first, and in my opinion most fun, way to stop them is by crushing the adults. Yep, you get to crush some bugs. So get on some shoes you don’t mind getting dirty, because the more adults we kill now, the less will show up next time.
Praying Mantises eat these spotted lanternflies. You can order praying mantis eggs and release them into your yard, leaving them to “dig in” and pretty soon they should have eaten most of the pests there.
Remember the clumps of eggs I told you about earlier? You can destroy these by scaping them and treating them with hand sanitizer. Try out the experiment below :)
Get a plastic card or putty knife to scrape egg masses off of the surface completely.
Scrape egg masses into a bag or container filled with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer.
Observe what happens to the eggs. :)
[Above is a picture of a spotted lanternfly egg mass. Gross, right?]
Because of these nasty critters, we could suffer damage to grapes, fruit trees and timber trees. That would mean that fruit timber would become more expensive. That would pretty much suck, because I don’t know about you... but I like fruit.
So go spend some time outside, kill some spotted lanternflies, and see what else you can learn about these interesting, yet damaging, critters. Discuss what you find on our forums page or send us a picture of your discovery.
Happy Learning!
--Pure Discovery
