Vineyards and Researchers Work Together to Combat the Spotted Lanternfly
In partnership with: Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
controlling and eliminating the spotted lanternfly. Photo credit: Pearmund Cellars
Virginia is home to approximately 300 wineries and 4,000 acres of commercial vineyards, making the industry an economic powerhouse, so invasive species, like the spotted lanternfly, are very concerning.
“It contributes close to a billion dollars annually when you include all aspects of the wine industry, such as agritourism,” says Chris Pearmund, owner of Pearmund Cellars, a winery in Fauquier County.
The spotted lanternfly (SLF) is the latest invasive agricultural pest with a penchant for wine grapes and vines. Native to Asia, the SLF has gotten a foothold in Virginia and surrounding states.
Apple and peach orchards are other favorite SLF feeding places, as is another Asian invasive, treeof- heaven, which can serve as a reservoir for SLF populations. But the insects can wipe out a vineyard in a year or two, obliterating the fruit and destroying the vines.
On the Move
The SLF is believed to have originated from a load of stone received in Berks County, Pennsylvania, from China in 2014. SLF covered 6 square miles in Virginia when it was first found in 2018, but its territory quickly grew.
“In March of 2021, it covered 141 square miles, and that will probably expand significantly because we’re finding hot spots in several counties,” says Tina MacIntyre, cooperative agricultural pest survey coordinator at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
“It’s basically a good hitchhiker,” says Dr. Mizuho Nita, associate professor and Extension specialist for grape disease management at Virginia Tech. “It transports easily with cars and trains, and hot spots are showing up along the highways and rail lines.”
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Researching Remediation
Nita hopes they can find beneficial insects or fungal biocontrol agents, which could be used more safely than applying chemicals.
“Nothing wrong with chemicals, but it can influence the natural ecosystem,” he says. “We’re not encouraging people to just spray away. We want to be conscientious about potential consequences and come up with a good solution that only targets what we need to control.”
When it comes to foodstuffs, the challenge becomes trickier. “You cannot use systemic insecticides on grapes because people are ingesting them, so it’s a difficult commodity to work with,” MacIntyre says.
She adds that natural predators and control are best-case scenarios.
“There’s a wasp that’s a parasite on gypsy moth eggs that has been discovered in SLF eggs, so there is a possibility there could be some crossover,” she says.
Researchers in Pennsylvania are trying inventive experiments to help vineyards. One method is installing telephone poles on the edges of vineyards, then draping them in netting that contains insecticide. The SLF migrate to the vineyards, get caught up in this netting and die.
“We also have circle traps, which we used as a tool for detection, but this year we used them in a mass trapping event,” MacIntyre says.
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Sniffing Out Solutions
Dr. Erica Feuerbacher, associate professor and director of the Applied Animal Behavior and Welfare Lab at Virginia Tech, along with Dr. Nita, is part of a pilot program using dogs to detect the SLF.
“A student was working with owners interested in having their dogs get into detection tasks,” Feuerbacher says. “The dogs were showing that they’re able to detect adult SLF and eggs.”
Backed by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and working with the Animal and Food Sciences Department at Texas Tech University, Feuerbacher hopes to start Virginia Tech’s part of the project in about a year.
Pearmund feels the time is now to get a handle on the SLF.
“I think we need to be very aggressive in understanding and learning how to control the SLF,” he says. “It’s too late to eradicate. We’ve got to throw a lot at this and figure it out very quickly because, in about a year or two, it’s just going to take over vineyards.”
Residents who encounter SLF are encouraged to kill the pest and report a sighting by contacting their local Virginia Cooperative Extension Agent (ext.vt.edu/offices.html) or emailing spottedlanternfly@vdacs.virginia.gov.