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Pittsburgh is “ground zero” when it comes to the Spotted Lanternfly problem.
Andy Amrhein of Evey True Value Hardware in Bethel Park has been studying the pest that just showed up last year and has some useful information and advice.
He tells The Big K Morning Show that Downtown, Oakland and Lawrenceville areas are hardest hit.
Amrhein says Pennsylvania is currently #1 in the world for the lanternflies.
Why? Because they’re so new to the area, they don’t have any natural predators.
“There are not any known predators, yet for the spotted lanternflies like there are in other countries, there’s other insects and birds and everything that eat it,” said Amrhein. “They are so new to our area that nothing is touching them, that nothing is eating them because all the other birds, mammals’, spiders, praying mantises, they’re just not familiar with them yet.”
That means there are millions of the insects around the Pittsburgh area.
Right now, the only thing really stopping them are humans, who are stopping on them or spraying them.
The situation has gotten so bad, that Amrhein is working with places like Carnegie Mellon University to get rid of the bugs.
He says BactroBUG kills them instantly and doesn’t hurt plants and animals.
Even with squashing them and using the BactroBUG, it’s a losing battle against the lanternfly until the birds and other predators join in on the fight.
Without the help, the problem is expected to be even worse next year with estimates of over 50 million spotted lanternflies next summer.
Amrhein says that they are learning that the insect is also attracted to different colors.
A light-colored building or light-colored lamppost will attract the lanternfly where a black light post or building will have none.
The lanternflies will be around until it gets cold.
Lanternfly egg masses will be showing up in the coming months. They can be taken out with a credit card, putty knife or anything else you can use to scrape them off whatever they are attached to.
You may be reading this and saying, “I don’t have lanternflies at my house.”
Places north of the city and further away don’t have the concentration because the insect is coming in on trucks and trains that usually stop in places like the Strip District and Lawrenceville.
“They are great hitchhikers,” said Amrhein.