Trees cut down in Schuylkill County in anticipation of Spotted Lanternfly return

Apr. 21—The expected return of the spotted lanternfly has prompted preventative measures around the county.

Trees have been removed at the Fairlane Village mall in Pottsville in anticipation of the insect's egg hatching, Patty Coughlin, property administrator, said Tuesday.

"We're trying to be proactive," Coughlin said. "When they start to hatch in a few weeks, it's gonna get nasty."

Coughlin said the U.S. Department of Agriculture sprayed the trees, but they had damage from the lanternflies last year, as well as signs of old age.

"Some of the branches are falling off, and we just didn't want to have a problem with getting these flies all over the place," Coughlin said. "USDA tried helping us out, but they could see that there was damage done."

The trees had been planted during a remodel in the 1980s, Coughlin said, so it was "a shame" to have to take them down.

"You want trees to last forever, but when you have an invasive bug like this, it just kills them," Coughlin said.

Coughlin said about 15 trees were taken down around where people park most. She didn't know what type of trees they were.

Kyle Schutt, insect management technician for the Schuylkill Conservation District, said that while the lanternflies may not kill a healthy tree merely by feeding on it, that activity can lead to infection.

"The most damage you'll see is actually from the holes they leave in the tree from feeding," Schutt said. "If you get several thousand lanternflies feeding on the tree, you'll have several thousand pinholes. A lot of times, that could lead to disease getting into the tree or some sort of infection at the feeding site."

Trees cut in Schuylkill Haven

Other areas of the county have worked with the Schuylkill Conversation District to combat the Spotted Lanternflies.

Jessica Seiders, assistant to the borough administrator, said Schuylkill Haven borough had Ailanthus Altissima trees, or Tree of Heaven, removed last year "to control the spotted lanternflies population."

Like the lanternfly, the Tree of Heaven is an invasive species native to China. Although studies are not conclusive, the insect seems to prefer reproducing on the Tree of Heaven, which was introduced to Pennsylvania in the late 1700s.

"We will continue our efforts this year to remove these trees as needed," Seiders said.

Over the past two years, Schutt said the Conservation District has removed trees around the county as part of its spotted lanternfly control project, through funding from the USDA.

Through the program, Schutt said they have cut down Tree of Heaven in Minersville, Pottsville and Schuylkill Haven, including on the Penn State Schuylkill campus.

"Those were basically a preventative measure," Schutt said. "We took them down because they're a quality food source and egg laying site for the lanternflies, plus the Tree of Heaven itself is invasive."

Once the trees are removed, Schutt said he treats them to prevent from them resprouting. However, he leaves some Tree of Heaven standing.

"We're trying to get them to congregate on a few remaining Tree of Heaven," Schutt said. "They will spray those Tree of Heaven that we left with a systematic insecticide. Once they feed on the trees that we left, hopefully it kills large numbers of them instead of having them evenly spread out across all of the trees."

Schutt said this method also reduces the amount of pesticide put into the environment.

Watch for egg masses

Schutt said the conservation district is waiting on funding from the USDA to continue the control program this year. For now, people can be on the lookout for egg masses, which may hatch in late May or early June.

"It looks like a mud spot on the tree," Schutt said. "It's probably between an inch or 2 long, and it's going to have eggs laid in vertical columns, usually 10 to 12 eggs in a column and probably five or six columns."

Egg masses can be found on the underside of tree branches or roots, as well as on outdoor furniture or underneath decks. Schutt said masses can be scraped off or smashed. Homeowners can also buy circle traps or home sprays to treat their trees.

"It's kind of just a waiting game now to see when they start to hatch, and hopefully we can find something out about our grant and get a program together," Schutt said.