How to Get Rid of Spotted Lanternfly

Have you noticed clusters of small, grayish-brown egg masses on your property’s tree trunks, rocks, or outdoor surfaces?

If so, you could have a spotted lanternfly problem.

Unless you act quickly, these pests can cause massive damage to your plants and other landscaping.

Fortunately, you don’t have to act alone.

Here at The Pest Dude, we’ve been helping Bay Area customers learn to do their own pest control for more than 20 years, and we’ve compiled our top tips for controlling invasive spotted lantern flies in this blog.

How to Identify Spotted Lanternfly

Image: Luke Hearon/CC by SA 2.0

The spotted lanternfly (SLF) is an invasive pest that has caused significant damage to crops in the United States.

It was first discovered in Pennsylvania in 2014 and has since spread to New Jersey, Virginia, Delaware, and a handful of other states.

This problematic pest feeds on more than 70 types of plants and can wreak havoc unless you take proactive and appropriate control steps.

If you want to get rid of the spotted lanternfly, though, you must learn to identify it at various life stages.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The life cycle of this pest begins as tiny eggs laid in rows on plant surfaces, typically covered with a gray, mud-like substance for camouflage.
• The egg masses are laid in late fall and winter, which means that eggs are the easiest to identify when the leaves have fallen.
• In the spring, the eggs hatch into black nymphs covered in small white spots, known as instars.
• The early instars are found in large groups on a wide variety of plants.
• As they grow, they transition into later nymphal stages with bright red bodies, white patches, and black spots.
• By mid-summer, the nymphs mature into adults with prominent gray wings with black spots.
• When viewed from underneath, adult lanternflies have vibrant red hind wings. When folded, the wings allow them to blend with their surroundings.

How to Recognize a Spotted Lanternfly Infestation

Spotted lanternflies are typically found in wooded areas, orchards, and residential landscapes.

They prefer areas near treelines and sheltered woodlands.

These pests are particularly fond of the Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) but will also target grapevines, fruit trees, hardwoods, and ornamental shrubs and bushes.

To successfully identify a spotted lanternfly infestation, you need to be vigilant and look for a few specific, telltale indications.

Signs of Lanternfly Damage:

• Wilting leaves, stunted growth, or tree dieback
• Blemished fruit, or fruit that has failed to develop properly in infested areas.

Other Signs to Look for:

• A lot of adult lanternflies and nymphs gathered together is usually a pretty solid bet that there’s an infestation.
• Honeydew secretions are another clear sign of a lanternfly infestation. These pests produce honeydew when they feed on the sugary sap of host plants, which creates a sticky coating on leaves, branches, and the ground. Honeydew also attracts other pests like ants and wasps and promotes sooty mold growth, which can block sunlight and hinder plant health.

Before You Get Started

Time Your Treatments

The most effective time to treat spotted lanternflies is during their nymph stages, which lasts from late spring through early summer.

If you’ve missed that window and you’re going after adults, instead, target them in the late summer and early fall – before they have a chance to lay eggs.

Wear PPE and Safety Gear

Wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when handling pesticides or treating spotted lanternfly infestations.

We recommend wearing gloves, long-sleeved shirts, pants, eye protection, and a respirator mask to protect yourself from chemical exposure and skin contact.

Prioritize Pesticide Safety

If you choose to use insecticides, there are a few safety tips you’ll absolutely need to follow.

First, it’s critical to always read the insecticide label to ensure it’s suitable for your intended use and to follow the instructions for safe application.

For example, if you’ve purchased a pesticide to use on the ornamental trees in your garden, make sure it’s labeled for that use.

If you’re treating edibles like grapes or fruit trees, the pesticide label must say it’s suitable for grapes or edibles

Remember, using too much insecticide isn’t beneficial or legal. Instead, you should use the correct amount to effectively eliminate SLFs while minimizing environmental impact.

Additionally, the type of insecticide you choose—contact or systemic—should fit your specific situation.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Contact insecticides kill lanternflies immediately upon contact.
• Systemic insecticides are absorbed by tree roots or bark and kill lanternflies upon ingestion. Systemic insecticides that contain ingredients like dinotefuran or imidacloprid, can be very slow to move throughout the plant tissue, so you’ll need to be patient if you choose to use them.

Both types have different effectiveness and require super careful application.

If you’re not sure how to use pesticides safely, consider hiring a professional instead.

How to Kill and Control Spotted Lanternflies

Natural Methods

1. Tree Banding

This method effectively reduces nymph populations, particularly in their early stages, and is a non-toxic control option.

How to do it:

• Wrap a layer of super strong sticky tape around tree trunks at chest height, ensuring the wrap is tight enough to prevent nymphs from passing under the tape.
• Check and replace the sticky bands regularly. They lose their stick-em over time as dust and bugs clog up the surface.
• To prevent people or squirrels from getting stuck, consider creating a shield with wire mesh over the sticky surface. Wrap your wire mesh, gently fold it into a U-shape, and place it over your adhesive bands so that it’s at least 0.5”-1” above the surface.
• Do not nail the wire mesh to the tree, as that will cause unnecessary damage. Instead, affix it to the tree using the pressure of the wire on the bark’s texture.

Product Recommendations:

• Adhesive bands
• Tanglefoot sticky coating
• Wire mesh

Tips: To maximize effectiveness, use bands specifically designed for insect trapping. Monitor the bands daily to ensure they are functioning properly.

2. Scraping Egg Masses

How to do it:

First, identify the egg masses: SLF egg masses typically measure about 1.5″ in length and are usually brown or gray in color, although this varies.

Each mass contains rows of small eggs, similar in size to a sharpened pencil tip, with some rows longer than others. The eggs can range in color from yellow to brown.

After a female lays her eggs, she covers them with a protective substance to help them survive winter and protect them from predators.

Initially, this covering is white and glossy, but it dulls and turns a darker gray or brown after a few hours.

Once you’ve identified the egg masses, follow these tips to get rid of them:

• Use a stiff card or putty knife to scrape off visible egg masses from tree bark, rocks, and other surfaces.
• Kill the masses by placing them in a container of pure rubbing alcohol.

Product Recommendations:

• Putty knife
• Protective gloves

Benefits: This method directly prevents future generations of lanternflies from hatching, effectively breaking their lifecycle.

Tips: Take some time to research egg masses and learn what they look like before you head out since they can be hard to spot. Always wear gloves when handling egg masses for safety.

3. Biological Controls

How to do it:

• Research and identify natural predators or pathogens that target spotted lanternflies, such as fungi like Beauveria bassiana or bugs like lacewings.
• Introduce your biological control of choice into the affected area according to manufacturer guidelines.

Product Recommendations:

• Beauveria bassiana spray
• Lacewing eggs

Benefits: Utilizing biological controls can help reduce lanternfly populations without harmful chemicals, promoting a healthier ecosystem.

Tips: You’ve got to be careful whenever you order predatory insects online: if insect predators like lacewings aren’t shipped at the right time, in the right environment, and at the right temperature, they may arrive with many dead insects in the package, which is disappointing AND a waste of money. With this in mind, we recommend ensuring that your provider has a good customer service policy, so you’re covered if your order doesn’t arrive in good shape. 

4. Removing Host Trees

How to do it:

• Identify and strategically remove the Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) – this is a great resource for more information on how to do this.
• If removal isn’t possible, treat these trees with herbicides containing the active ingredients glyphosate or triclopyr.
• Alternatively, create some “trap trees” by treating some Tree of Heaven with insecticide to kill SLF that land in or feed on them.

Product Recommendations:

• GlyPhoSel Weed Killer
• Triclopyr Herbicide

Benefits: Reducing the presence of preferred host trees disrupts the lanternfly lifecycle and helps manage infestations.

Tips: Ensure any tree removal is done safely and responsibly, following local regulations regarding tree removal.

5. Trapping

How to do it:

• Set up specialized circle traps, which are non-sticky and animal-friendly, to catch SLF nymphs and adults without harming wildlife.
• Position them in places where you’ve noticed lots of lanternfly activity.

Product Recommendations:

• SLF Circle Traps

Benefits: Effective trapping can significantly reduce lanternfly populations in areas where other control methods are less effective.

Tips: Regularly check traps and replace them as needed to maintain effectiveness. Choose traps that are easy to monitor.

6. Cleaning Vehicles and Gear

One of the ways that spotted lanternfly infestations spread is that these pests hitchhike on cars and gear.

Always inspect and clean your belongings before traveling, especially in quarantine zones.

This practice helps prevent the spread of lanternflies to new areas, protecting local ecosystems.

How to do it:

• Start by checking all surfaces of your vehicle, focusing on wheel wells, bumpers, and under the hood where pests might hide.
• Inspect outdoor equipment like lawn mowers, bicycles, and grills for any egg masses.
• If you find egg masses, scrape them off with a putty knife or similar tool, and collect them in a plastic bag with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer to kill them.
• Use a flashlight to illuminate dark or hidden areas where lanternflies might be hiding.

Product Recommendations:

• Flashlight
• Putty knife

Tips: Use a pressure washer for vehicles and a vacuum for equipment to eliminate any hidden lanternflies or egg masses.

Chemical Methods

1.     Insecticides

How to do it:

• Use systemic insecticides like Imidacloprid or Dinotefuran to poison spotted lanternflies.
• Alternately, choose insecticides like pyrethroids to kill lanternflies on contact.
• Apply them directly to the infested areas of plants and surfaces where you’ve noticed spotted lantern flies hanging out during the early nymph stages, following label directions carefully for the best results.

Product Recommendations:

• ImidaPro Insecticide
• Alpine WSG

Benefits: Effective control of adult spotted lanternflies and nymphs leads to reduced populations and plant damage.

Tips: Always check for the latest product recommendations and ensure application methods align with local regulations to minimize environmental impact.

2. Treating Host Plants

How to do it:

• Apply systemic insecticides directly to host plants, ensuring even coverage. These chemicals will be absorbed by the plant and will target lanternflies that feed on it.
• Use Spinosad-based products, which are safer for non-target species, for more environmentally friendly lanternfly control.
• Apply systemic or contact insecticides during the lanternfly’s active season to protect vulnerable trees, like grapes and maples.

Product Recommendations:

• • Spliven insecticide

Benefits: Provides long-term protection for plants, as the insecticides remain active within the plant system, deterring lanternfly feeding.

Tips: Timing is crucial; aim to treat plants before the peak feeding times of lanternflies and monitor for any signs of infestation for timely reapplication if necessary.

Additional Tips to Prevent Spotted Lanternfly Infestations

1. Follow Quarantine Rules

Familiarize yourself with your region’s quarantine regulations and adhere to them closely – especially when moving firewood, plants, or outdoor items. This practice helps contain the spread of lanternflies, protecting local ecosystems and agriculture.

Always check local guidelines before moving any materials and consider using certified pest-free products to minimize risks.

2. Learn More About SLF Infestations

Increased public awareness leads to quicker detection and reporting of lanternfly sightings, improving control efforts.

Encourage neighbors to join in SLF control efforts by removing egg masses, banding trees, and using traps for collective action.

Utilize social media to spread information and collaborate with local schools or organizations to reach a wider audience.

When to Call in a Professional

Homeowners should consider hiring a professional pest control service whenever a severe lanternfly infestation cannot be managed with DIY methods.

Here are some guidelines on when to call in the pest pros:

It’s a large Infestation

If you notice that large numbers of lanternflies are swarming your property or causing significant damage to trees and plants, it’s time to call in professionals who have the tools and skills to handle extensive infestations.

This is a repeated Infestation

If lanternflies keep returning despite your efforts to control them with recommended techniques, a professional can assess the situation and develop a more effective, long-term management plan.

You’ve noticed damage to valuable or sensitive plants

If important or valuable plants and trees show signs of distress or are at risk, professionals can offer specialized treatment options to preserve them and prevent further damage.

There are safety concerns

When the use of chemical treatments is necessary and involves potential risks, trained professionals ensure a safe application that complies with environmental regulations and safety standards.

There’s a lack of time or resources

Managing lanternfly infestations requires consistent effort and resources.

If you cannot dedicate the necessary time or lack the proper equipment, hiring a professional is a practical solution.

Don’t Live With a Spotted Lanternfly Infestation – Find a Pest Pro in Your Area Who can Help!

Spotted lanternflies may look like small, insignificant, even pretty little pests, but they can multiply quickly and wreak havoc in no time at all.

Fortunately, we’re here to help!

At The Pest Dude, we work with a nationwide network of skilled, reliable pest control professionals.

Call us at (844) 532-0076, and we’ll connect you with an expert in your area who can help you eliminate lanternfly infestations and keep them from coming back in the future!