In just three years, the invasive spotted lanternfly has spread from the Springfield area to over 50 cities and towns in the Commonwealth.
As families soak up the last of summer and begin their back-to-school routines, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources asks residents to look out for the moth-like insect as it moves into its final adult stage and begins to lay eggs.
“The goal here is to reduce the numbers of spotted lantern flies,” MDAR Biologist Jennifer Forman Orth said. “We know that people won’t be able to reach an egg mass 15 feet above the ground, but if they can reduce wha they can, they will have fewer lanturnflies on their property next season.”
Spotted lanternflies pose no threat to people or to pets, but they could impact agriculture by feeding on the sap of more than 100 different kinds of plants and can kill grapevines or small tree saplings, according to MDAR. That could pose a risk especially to vineyards and farms, especially those that allow visitors to pick their own fruit.
“The most noticeable impact is the sticky residue known as honeydew that they produce while feeding, which can be an inconvenience for outdoor activities including agritourism,” the department wrote in a press release.
Up until this year, 2024, state-documented spotted lanternfly infestations in Hampshire County were limited to Granby. South Hadley and Belchertown have since been added to the rising number of communities with spotted lanternfly sightings.
Forman Orth asks residents to check if the spotted lanternfly has already been reported in a community on MDAR’s Invasive Pest Dashboard.
If not, they should snap a photo and fill out a reporting form online.
“Its getting tricky for us too because in a space like Springfield or Chicopee, we are getting some many infestations that we don’t need them to report it,” she said.
Spotted lanturnflies were first spotted in Massachusetts in the Springfield/Chicopee area, and have since spread to other areas in all directions. Researchers still do not know why the insect shows up in one community versus another. However, Forman Orth said the spotted lanturnfly does well in urban areas or “tranportation corridors.”
“Its preferred host plant is tree of heaven and it does really well in urban areas,” she said. “It will grow from a crack in the sidewalk and has seeds that disperse really well along railways and urban highways.”
As summer comes to a close, spotted lanternflies will reach their final adult stage. People may see these bugs flying around a lot more frequently, especially as they begin to lay eggs in fall. Residents can remove large groups of spotted lanternflies with vacuums, traps or chemical treatments. See the MDAR’s management guide for more details.
Adult female spotted lanturnflies lay eggs on almost any surface, from trees and telephone poles to patio furniture and stationary train cars. Forman Orth suggests preventing unwanted hitchhikers by inspecting the wheel wells of vehicles before traveling between an infested and uninfested community.
“When we can reach the egg masses, we scrap them off with a credit card or puddy knife and crush them,” she said. “You can also scrape them into a container with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer.”
No state with spotted lanternfly populations has eradicated the insect completely. They are likely here to stay. The state’s goal is to slow the spread as much as possible.