Warm Weather Creates Opportunity to Hunt Spotted Lanternfly Egg Masses

the picture care of the Tree Foundation

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, from the Tree Foundation , this week’s weather is warming up! Get outside and hunt Spotted Lanternfly egg masses. When you find them, crush them! Use an old bank card, small rolling pin or putty knife. If you find egg masses on your property from September to May, you can scrape them off using a plastic card or putty knife. Scrape them into a bag or container filled with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer and keep them in this solution permanently. Egg masses that are scraped to the ground can still hatch, so it is important to follow all steps! Egg masses can also be smashed, but be sure to apply even and forceful pressure to the entire egg mass. A properly smashed egg will burst open. You can learn more about this method by watching our how-to video: ” How To Remove Spotted Lanternfly Eggs  .” Remember that some eggs will be very difficult or even unreachable at the tops of trees, in other well-hidden areas, and they may be present throughout your neighborhood and community. Be aware that this method may reduce the number of nymph or adult Spotted Lanternfly you see later in the year but most likely will not eliminate the population completely from your area.

A word of caution female Spotted Lanternfly will lay their eggs in a variety of places, most commonly on trees next to their feeding site. Often, the hosts preferred by Spotted Lanternfly in the late season are red maple, silver maple, and willows – this is an excellent place to start looking for egg masses! However, Spotted Lanternfly will also lay eggs on trees they do not heavily feed on, including black cherry and pine trees. It is important to keep in mind that you will not be able to reach all of the egg masses deposited on a tree; in fact, on average less than 2% of the egg masses laid on a tree are at a reachable distance (0-10ft) on the tree, leaving 98% of the egg masses above reach. Note that these numbers were taken from maples between 30-40 feet high and may differ for other tree species or different sized trees. We do not recommend using ladders or climbing trees to get to the unreachable distance. Keep in mind that each egg mass killed can remove up to 50 Spotted Lanternfly from next year’s generation, but you are unlikely to get them all. Continued management strategies on nymphs and adults next year, such as tree traps, may be necessary. Read more about other management strategies for Spotted Lanternfly at Spotted Lanternfly Management Resources .

Spotted Lanternfly prefer to lay egg masses in protected areas such as the undersides of tree limbs, picnic tables, and other outdoor surfaces that are horizontal or angled toward the ground. Currently, we are trying to determine which substrates they prefer to lay on the most. Interestingly, we have found that Spotted Lanternfly females prefer to lay eggs near other SLF egg masses, so you will often see SLF egg masses clumped together.

see https://extension.psu.edu/what-should-you-do-with-spotted-lanternfly-egg-masses