Walk down a county road this time of year, and you may encounter an oily mess that sticks to trees, shrubs, footwear and K-9 paws. If so, you have entered an invasive species battle zone. Not far removed from a downscaled Asian B-movie.
In this kaiju film featuring Spotted Lantern Flies vs. the Trees-of-Heaven, humans are the ultimate losers. Mostly.
For evidence of the battle, scan for what appears to be a sloppy effort to drench the invasive trees, also known as ailanthus, in diesel oil. A dead zone of black goo surrounds the hellish trees, suffocating other plants in the immediate vicinity.
This excretion, which passes through the lantern flies after dining on the trees, leaves an oily, glue-like sheen wherever it falls. Striding on asphalt, your soles sound like Velcro unhooking due to dried black sugar, or “honey dew,” that the bugs cannot digest.
Really messy eaters, the flies, or SLFs for short, are native to South Asia. Accidentally introduced to the U.S. about a decade ago, they’ve now marched (or fluttered) into 21 states.
Strolling with the dog last week, I first saw what appeared to be the work of a drive-by tree-of-heaven (TOH) vigilante. I guessed that someone had taken a sprayer to the much-hated invasive plants.
TOH were intentionally introduced to America in 1748. We’ve been battling them for centuries. I kill as many ailanthus as the next patriotic landowner. But I surmised foul – it appeared that the dead zone reached the edge of the Middle River in places. Tributaries and poisonous chemistry should not mix.
Trees of Heaven are SLF’s preferred meal. Also on the species’ menu to devastating affect for regional ag interests: grapes, soybean, hops, and a variety of trees, including maples, and many fruity flavors: cherry, apple, etc. Meanwhile, TOH are hated for land grabbing at blitzkrieg rate, toxicity, and feeding /spreading lantern flies advance. Also, they stink to high heaven.
Homeward bound, marching with Timi (also an acronym), I made some calls. County and VDOT staff helpfully explained that no professional sprayers were involved along the river’s edge. They were targeting Johnson grass in other counties.
“You know,” a VDOT veteran explained in a call back later, “I’ve heard that further north, where those flies have been longer and in greater numbers, they can leave a real mess. Like what you’ve described.”
From darkness to light. The conversation wandered to honey. He’ll be an apiarist soon. Retiring in two years to husband bees.
I had the pleasure of relating how last year, at our place, the bees (Bs for short) made high-end honey with a with help of the SLFs, and less directly TOHs. Bs collect the “waste” that SLFs cannot process. Yes, thick, dark brown lantern fly poop honey, yummy. The sludgy stuff contains high levels of nutrients and antioxidants. Consequently, sells for higher $$$.
Frankly, I’d rather eradicate SLFs and TOH than profit.
I regularly slice the trees’ bark open and daub the cut with poison.
This fall I’ll gather milkweed seeds to knock off more invasive flies. A native plant, milkweed is essential to Monarch butterflies. It contains a toxin that reportedly kills up to 80 percent of spotted lanterns within a day of a taste.
It’s much easier than trying to stomp them. Less messy, too.
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