Related
CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Agriculture officials said an invasive insect that kills woody plants and fruit crops is making its way towards Illinois.
It’s called the spotted lanternfly and it’s about an inch long.
"We don’t have it here in Illinois yet. We’ve been pretty active in trying to do some surveys and detection efforts over the past two or three years, but fortunately, we haven't found it. We're off the hook for now, but it’s definitely something on our radar," Schirmer said.
Schirmer said the invasive insect likes to feed on an invasive plant called the Tree of Heaven. When it gets to Illinois, Schirmer suspects it will try to attack grape crops grown for Illinois’ wine industry.
"We’re really focused on vineyards and the grape commodities itself and trying to look for interfaces where there was that Tree of Heaven in close proximity to those vineyards as somewhat of a high-risk detection site," he said.
"It has a weird affinity to rusty metal, so old vehicles, license plates. Things along those lines. For some reason or another, I hear a lot about 55 gallon drums," Schirmer said.