7 August 2024
Spotted lanternflies (SLF, Lycorma delicatula) were a plague in Pittsburgh last year. This month their adult population is ramping up again. What’s their status now and how do their numbers compare to last summer?
I didn’t pay attention to the first adult spotted lanternfly in 2023 but this year I was ready. My first 2024 sighting was on 18 July. Interestingly I haven’t seen a whole lot of red nymphs and adults compared to last year so I went to a place that was swamped with them in 2023.
On Saturday I visited the Three Rivers Heritage Trail at Herrs Island back channel, a place that was overrun by red nymphs in late July 2023 and had so many winged adults in August and September last year that it was impossible for cyclists and pedestrians to avoid them. The bugs flew into us. It was creepy.
This year on 3 August I found adult lanternflies at the same place but not in an overwhelming number. I counted 16 red nymphs and 68 adults at the most densely populated location. The fact that they were countable is a sign there weren’t that many … yet.
This one tried to avoid being counted. Hah!
What I couldn’t count were the bugs above my head sucking sap from invasive vines and ailanthus trees. Their “honeydew” coated the leaves below and “rained” on me at one point. Yuk.
Last year the worst of the invasion ran from late August to mid September so we still have more to come. Will it be as bad as last year? CBS Pittsburgh provides some expert opinions.
As usual we’ll just have to wait and see.
My son’s pool in Penn Hills has killed hundreds if not thousands of nymphs but only a few adults. The numbers are down from last year. Last year my husband killed over 200 with a fly swatter on our porch every day for weeks. We haven’t seen any nymphs or adults at our home in Churchill.