The spotted lanternfly, after making its first appearance on the South Fork last fall, continued its eastward march in 2024, with the fancy-looking insects showing up in every trap placed here by the Town of East Hampton. However, the East End still hasn’t been hit by the “plague of the locusts”-type population surges seen in parts of New Jersey, Manhattan, and Nassau County. That may change in 2025, but according to entomologists who have been watching movements of the insect, more likely in 2026.
Now that the first frosts of the year have hit, the insect has gone dormant.
Michael Jarrin, a town land steward, has been monitoring “circle traps” provided by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation at the Prand preserve, Camp Norwesca, John’s Hole (where spotted lanternfly adults were found in 2023), at the intersection of Bull’s Path and Old Northwest Road, and in the Norfolk-Crandall woodlands.
Andrew Gaites, the principal environmental analyst in the town’s Department of Land Acquisition and Management, said that while the town hasn’t observed any infestation on native trees, based on this year’s findings, the department is considering adding additional monitoring traps next year.
It’s been 10 years since the spotted lanternfly (misnamed: it’s not a fly, but a planthopper), first showed up in Pennsylvania after reputedly hitching a ride on some landscaping stones shipped from South Korea.
“This was an insect that was not on anybody’s radar screen to watch out for,” said Chris Logue, director of the division of plant industry at the New York State Department of Agriculture. It was quickly understood that it posed a real threat to wineries and certain native trees, like black walnut, red maple, and oak, and entomologists got to work figuring out how to combat a possible infestation. “We started at a deficit. It’s a group of insects not studied much. We’ve been building or filling in its basic life cycle as we go,” he said.
“West of Riverhead has a fair population,” he continued. “Typically what we are seeing, and this has played out in a similar way in states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey, you’ll have a gradually building population, then one or two seasons of high numbers. After that, we’ve seen that it drops off for a period of time.”
The drop in population that comes after the initial surge is not well understood. “Could be they lack enough food or it’s not the quality they need,” surmised Mr. Logue. Dan Gilrein, an entomologist at the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, compared the emergence of the spotted lanternfly to the outbreak of the brown marmorated stink bug, which has become a common insect on the East End (it also made the trip from Asia on rocks).
Stink bug populations exploded in some Midle Atlantic States in the 1990s, but never hit here with the same intensity, he wrote in an email. Turns out a “tiny non-native wasp” attacks its eggs. He wonders if a similar fate has befallen spotted lanternflies, and entomologists just don’t know it yet. “I am not sure why, but it could be some natural enemies are adapting to this new food source, perhaps. We do know that birds and some other general predators, for example, some spiders, will feed on spotted lanternfly and at least one small wasp was found to attack low numbers of their eggs. Some insect-killing fungi were found decimating spotted lanternfly in at least one area of Pennsylvania several years ago.”
One certainly hopes a natural predator emerges. The East End is already having enough trouble with its trees, what with beech leaf disease wreaking havoc and the southern pine beetle felling acres of native pitch pines. So, the introduction of a new, potentially invasive pest that feeds on a growing list of 100 different species of plants and trees wasn’t welcomed by anyone.
They’re closely associated with the invasive ailanthus tree, also known as the tree of heaven. “Access to the ailanthus tree makes their egg laying increase and increases the survival of those eggs and maybe acts as an influence on their population,” Mr. Logue said. “Typically, when we look at places where the population was really high, like in Berks County, Pa., where it was originally found, they have high numbers of ailanthus trees.” He said he would not suggest removing all ailanthus trees to hinder the lanternfly, however, because it’s possible the lanternfly would have no choice but to feed more extensively on our native trees.
There’s a sort of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” situation at play here.
They also love grapevines, thus the fear about an impact on our local wineries. Vintners seem resigned to an eventual clash with the insect, but for now, they are reporting none. “There have been sightings at wineries on the North Fork,” wrote Roman Roth, a winemaker and partner at Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack. “So far they have not become an issue, but we are closely watching. Also, when we prune this winter, we will look for egg colonies and scrape them off and destroy them.”
“At vineyards where you have a heavy spotted lanternfly population, they’ll have to do treatments, which cost money,” Mr. Logue said. “What’s problematic is that they’re outside feeding during harvest, in August and September. For vineyard owners, there are limitations about what pesticides they can apply close to harvest.”
“I’m sure they are coming, unfortunately,” said Christopher Tracy, a winemaker at Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehampton. “It’s just a matter of when.”
Mr. Logue said if their population does explode, their sheer density could prove a nuisance to homeowners, but he didn’t expect much damage.
