Links to current, specific recommendations for insecticides are included at the end of this article. Systemic insecticides are absorbed by roots, bark, or leaves and are moved through the vascular system to other parts of the plant. Contact insecticides kill SLF when the chemical contacts the insect as a direct spray. There are different ways to use different types of insecticides. For a small number of insects, these methods may be the best options. You can eliminate a lot of SLF by destroying their eggs over the winter months (smash or scrape them into alcohol.) Nymphs often fall out of trees and then walk to the trunk or another plant and climb back up to start feeding again. We can take advantage of this predictable behavior of the nymphs by carefully using circle traps to catch them as they climb up trees. In these cases, it may be more important to treat those plants for SLF to protect them from any additional stress. Newly planted ornamentals or plants stressed by other insects, diseases, site-related or environmental conditions may be less able to withstand high levels of SLF feeding. Is your plant affected by other stressors? However, if you have a lot of their favorite plants in your area (especially Ailanthus altissima), you might experience high populations of SLF because they have access to a plentiful food source. SLF nymphs and adults frequently move from one plant to another which makes it difficult to predict the amount of protection you will accomplish by treating a specific plant with an insecticide. Individual people vary in their willingness to tolerate different amounts of SLF on their plants and different amounts of honeydew and sooty mold growth on their property. The amount of honeydew and nuisance that is produced depends on the number of SLF but usually, it is a problem associated with the adult stage. Stinging insects are attracted to honeydew and are often found around SLF. SLF excrete honeydew (partially digested tree sap that contains sugars) which allows sooty molds to grow under heavily infested trees and can result in cosmetic damage to decks, cars, and other possessions. Later in the season, SLF adults feed voraciously on tree sap for weeks and research has shown that this can stress trees by reducing their energy storage for winter. Nymphs ingest less volume of tree sap than the adults, so a population of nymphs is thought to be less damaging than the same number of adults would be. To date, there is no reliable way to measure how much stress a certain amount of SLF causes on an ornamental plant and translate that to an action plan.Ī few SLF feeding on a healthy tree is probably not a big concern for the long-term health of that tree. Also, large numbers of SLF nymphs feeding have caused wilting on herbaceous plants and branch dieback on some trees. We have only observed SLF killing Ailanthus altissma (an invasive weed tree), grapevines, and small tree seedlings. To date, we have not observed SLF killing otherwise healthy ornamental trees in landscapes. Do not use home remedies because they may harm plants and beneficial insects and they may also be toxic to humans. Use only EPA registered insecticides approved for the site (this is required by Pennsylvania pesticide laws.) Always read and follow the label directions. If you decide to use a chemical (an insecticide), use the least toxic but effective option. Penn State recommends using an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach, first taking the numbers of SLF present into account and then using cultural, mechanical, biorational, and as a last resort chemical management tools to achieve the desired level of control. Some things you should take into account are: the number of SLF present, if they are on a preferred host plant where they are likely to remain or if they are on a plant they will move away from after a shorter visit, the size and health of the plant, the presence or absence of preferred host plants in the landscape, and the life stage of SLF. That said, there are many things to consider before deciding to use an insecticide to kill SLF on landscape trees or shrubs. Spotted lanternfly (SLF) nymphs and adults are both fairly easy to kill with insecticides even the less toxic insecticides like soaps and oils can work well.
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