Last year saw the spread of the Asian Spotted Lanternfly into Delanco. Many residents saw them sitting on trees and flying and hopping about. This invasive species which was initially identified in Pennsylvania in 2014 and is rapidly spreading. It is a plant-sucking leaf hopper that negatively impacts the plants and trees they feed on. Not only does it weaken the plants it feeds on, it secretes a sweet sticky honeydew which attracts bees, wasps and ants. The honeydew can also become moldy which will add to the stress to the host plant. It is anticipated, that, if unchecked, the pest will have a significant impact on farming.  Now is a great time to seek out and destroy their egg masses before they hatch in the spring. The egg masses look like taupe colored putty and may be on trees, outdoor furniture, houses, basically any surface outside. Delanco Township and the Delanco Environmental Advisory Board encourage all residents to survey their yards and outdoor areas and scrape and destroy any egg masses found. Each egg mass will hatch approximately 50 nymphs. The best way is to use an old credit card or gift card to scrape the egg mass into a plastic zipper lock bag which has alcohol-based  gel hand sanitizer in it. Once the eggs are in the bag, mush it around to ensure the eggs get covered by the gel, double bag and throw in the garbage. For a video detailing how to look for, identify and dispose of the eggs to https://youtu.be/9CcZPAjrW58

For additional information on the Spotted Lanternfly and how to identify the life stages and how to manage after hatching please copy and paste the two links below.

https://njaes.rutgers.edu/spotted-lanternfly/

https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/pi/prog/spottedlanternfly.html.

Finally,  the Burlington County Park System has a volunteer program for folks willing to go for a walk in a park and look for and scrape egg masses. If you are interested, go to Burlington County Spotted Lanternfly Volunteer Program  this might be a nice way to get the kids outside and do some good as the same time.