Thoughts about the Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, from ongoing research near ground zero for its introduction. This article contrasts its spread with the spread of the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug, Japanese stilt grass and mile-a-minute vine.

1. Thoughts on the Spotted Lanternfly in Berks County, PA
Richard Gardner
Sept. 10, 2018
Fromthe beginningof thissummertothe presentIhave beenlookingforthe SpottedLanternflyinnorthwesternBerks
County,PA while doingotherresearch. Mywife andIoverthe summerhave seennymphsatthree places:the startof
the Fox Trot trail inBlue Marsh, BernvilleSewerplantandthe oldelementaryschool inShartlesville.The latterhavingat
leasta dozennymphs. Ialsosaw an adultinAugustat the WyomissingFamilyRestaurantafterhavinglunchwitha
friend.
I walkedwiththe specificpurpose of lookingforthe SLFon September4and 5 inSGL110 near Shartlesville with
negative results, onSeptember6, alonga 1.5 mile stretchof the looptrail inBlue Marsh oneitherside of mile 19 with
negative results andonSeptember8,Blue Marsh at mile 1, (“dogbeach”/emergencyfloodoverflow area),findingan
infestation.All these locations are withinafewmilesof myhome and containample Ailanthustrees.
What I have learned bydirectobservation andfromtalkingwithotherpeopleisthatthe SLF isspreadingmostlyin
suburbanand urbanareas.This isdue to several conditions;
1. Vehiclestotransportthe SLFoverthe landscape
2. Placespeople congregateforatleastan hour at a time
3. Ailanthus trees
Since the SLFis a hopper,totravel across the landscape the wayit isrequiresvehiclestohitchhike on.Apparently,it
usesflatsmoothsurfacessuchas cars, trucks, boatsand boat trailers.Ifirstsaw the SLF at First EnergyStadiumin
Readinglastfall.Peoplefromall overthe county,includingBoyertown/Oley –the area of introduction,andsurrounding
areas congregate here forbaseball gamesandotherevents.Thisbroughtthe SLFfrominfestedareastoa common
meetingplace fromwhichitcanchange vehiclestotravel tootherareas.Fromwhat I hearditis insimilarurbanand
suburbanplacesthatpeople congregate fromacrossthe countysuch as restaurants,acampgroundnear Shartlesville
and the oldelementaryschool inShartlesville(whichisnow a conservative Anabaptist church). Additionally,Iheardthat
at the stillingbasininBlue Marshthe Ailanthus treeshadSLF eggmasseslastfall, whichisthe reasonwe walkedfrom
there onSeptember8.Thislast mentionedlocation isaplace people congregatefromacrossthe county to fishas itis
one of the fewcountylakes withpublicaccess.
Ailanthus treesare ubiquitousinBerksCounty.So,there isalwaysanavailable foodsupply. The twocontiguousparts
of SGL110 whichI walkedforseveral milesare remote dirtroadswhichare openonlyduringhuntingseasonstartingin
mid-September.No SLFwasfoundthere.The 1-1/2 milesof Blue Marsh I walked wasparallel toamajor artery,Rt.183.
Eventhoughit isa major road, fewpeople stopalongit, includinginthe minortowns, because itismostlyacommuter
route fromSchuylkill CountytoReadinginBerksCounty andbetweenRt.222 and I-78.
Contrastingthe SLFwiththe Brown Marmorated Stinkbugisthe difference betweenaflyerwhichoccasionally
hitchhikesandahopperwhichmusthitchhike tospread.Bothwere firstfoundwithin30 milesof myhome.Where Ilive
we have had hundreds,if notthousandsof BMSB. (Theyhave forcedme torethinkhow I gardenandwhat vegetablesto
grow.This meansthatthere will be early producingbeanssuchasbushvarieties insteadof laterpole varieties andnon-
redcherry tomatoes asred cherrytomatoesappearto be a preferred foodmore thanothertomatotypes.) Another
difference betweenthe twoinsectsisthatthe BMSB is supposedtohave 2 or 3 generationsperyear asopposedto just
one generationperyearforthe SLF.
BMSB easilyspreadsacrossthe landscape onitsown.SLFdoesnot. A furthernote isthat in ourvegetable gardenwe are
seeingmuchsmallerstagesof the BMSB predominatingatthe presentthaninpast years. Thismaybe possiblydue to
the amountof rainand overcastdays we have had thissummer.

2. Japanese stiltgrassandmile-a-minuteare plantcontrastssimilartothe SLF and BMSB. To spreadacross the landscape
undernormal conditionsJapanesestiltgrass movesoneithershoesoroccasionally vehicles anddownvernal
waterflows.Isee italongthe trailsanddirtroads inSGL110. Most of these distancesare relativelyshort.Incontrast asis
evidentinSGL110 in TildenTownship,mile-a-minuteisspreadbybirds alongthe ridge and a dirt road nearthe top of
the ridge.The berriesare consumedbybirdsand obviously leftbehind atroostswhenthe birdstake flight.The fall
migrationroute alongthe ridge androosts the birds use are obvious bythe densityof mile-a-minute.
The “quarantine”of the SLF was nothingbuta patheticTrump-likejoke.Likethe wavyleaf basketgrass, once the SLF
was establishedtherewasnothingwhichcouldbe done aboutit.Convincingpeople thattheycouldmake adifference
withNRA-likefearpropagandaerodesourpositionasscientistsinoursocietyandincreasesthe distrustscientistslike
me have of our scientificandpolitical leadership.The onlypeople whowill benefitare investorsin pesticide companies
like Monsanto.Rightnow, the onlyreasonable course of actionbesidesintelligentlyeducatingpeople aboutthisissueis
to take the time to do science;patientlystudythe SLFoverat leastseveral years withthe forlornhope of preventing
similarissuesinthe future.