Spotted lanternfly 'popping up everywhere' in Lackawanna County

Aug. 26—Grape wine is not a big part of Dan Schreffler's product line at Space Time Mead & Cider Works in Dunmore, but he understands what's at stake.

When he found spotted lanternfly early-stage nymphs lurking among the grapevines in his small Bucktown backyard in July, he snapped photos and took to Space Time's Facebook page to sound the alarm.

The invasive insects are a threat to plants important to Pennsylvania's economy, Schreffler wrote. That includes his little winery and others like it.

"It was more a public awareness thing — 'Guess what? They're here. Now kill them,' " said Schreffler, who founded Space Time in 2018.

About 17 months after the state Department of Agriculture added Lackawanna County to Pennsylvania's spotted lanternfly quarantine zone, the insects have suddenly become a relatively common sight in many areas of the county, including downtown Scranton.

Jill Baer, Penn State Extension master gardener coordinator for Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, said reported sightings have been "popping up everywhere."

"I would say many of the places we are getting reports from are residential neighborhoods," she said. "It's primarily people finding them in their yards."

Although sightings have been numerous and widespread, the overall spotted lanternfly numbers still seem to be low, at least when compared to some areas of southeastern Pennsylvania that have been inundated by the bug, Baer said.

"It's just generally more prevalent. It can be found in more places," she said.

Considered a quality-of-life nuisance and a major threat to Pennsylvania's grape, fruit tree and timber industries, the spotted lanternfly is a plant-hopping insect native to Asia that was first identified near Reading eight years ago.

Although the pest will feed on the sap from a host of plants, it favors grapevines, maples, black walnuts, birches and willows. The feeding stresses the plants, which can lead to decreased health and increased mortality.

State officials have tried to slow the insect's spread by imposing quarantine requirements in areas where it is detected, but the quarantine zone has steadily expanded to encompass 45 of the commonwealth's 67 counties. Luzerne joined the zone in 2020, and Lackawanna was added in 2021.

Jennifer Lauri, agricultural conservation technician with the Luzerne County Conservation District, said she believes there is a growing awareness of the spotted lanternfly in the county, although she is not certain many people have yet grasped how destructive the pest can be.

"People might see it and only be concerned about if it's in their yard harming an ornamental tree or covering something directly related to them in their yards," Lauri said. "Other than that, I don't think people are really concerned with killing it."

The district scheduled two spotted lanternfly workshops in the spring, but it ended up canceling the second one when no one signed up for it, she said. The lack of interest surprised her, especially as the district was handing out free circle traps at the workshops, but she attributed it to the fact there weren't that many of the insects around in 2021.

That apparently has started to change. Lauri said has heard reports in recent weeks of the bugs in Edwardsville, Dallas and Forty Fort.

"Now that it's hit and it's affecting people in their backyards, they are asking, 'What do we do? How do we get rid of them?' " she said.

Jim Kopec, who manages the wholesale division at Edward's Garden Center in Forty Fort, said he has seen the insects in the area, but no mass concentrations. There have also been few reports by customers, "which is a good thing," he said.

"We are taking a wait-and-see approach," Kopec said. "We are just really trying to prevent the spread at this point."

Baer said spotted lanternflies can be seen in two forms right now: winged adults and late-stage nymphs that are black with mostly red backs with white polka dots. If people see one of the insects and are comfortable doing it, the best thing they can do is smash and kill it, she said.

Beginning in September and continuing through the first hard frost, the insects will start laying their eggs, Baer said. She encouraged people to be on the lookout for the egg masses, which look like a smear of mud and can contain 30 to 50 eggs, and destroy them by smashing and scraping.

The Penn State Extension website has a spotted lanternfly resource page — extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly — that includes instructions for scraping the egg masses, along with link to report sightings to the Department of Agriculture.

In addition just being a self-described "geeky environmentalist" concerned about invasive species, Schreffler said he has a vested interest in making sure people know about the insect.

Like most area wineries, Space Time doesn't have its own vineyard and relies on other suppliers for its grapes, he said. As a Pennsylvania Preferred winery, at least 80% of its ingredients are sourced from within the commonwealth.

"Grapes have always been difficult for me to get simply because anyone who is generally growing grapes is growing them for their own vineyards and they are not selling them out," Schreffler said. "So if there are less grapes that they have to make their own wine, there are less grapes for me to use, so that is my concern. We don't need one more thing."

Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9132.