I was just out to take some photos of (and look for more) bitter melons, and I saw these for the first time! No way of mistaking these, for sure. I have seen them in the news, in towns west of Philadelphia, but I am in the range on one map I found online. Now I have to make some of those traps I have seen those people making on those news stories.
Oh no... that thing is here! The spotted lanternfly. 7-27 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The first one I saw was on the bitter melon, which is covered with Surround, so that does not bother them at all!

Yep, that's a nymph. The article says to report it right away.

After reading more about these, I found that the nymphs live up in trees, as a rule, so probably what I'm finding fell of of that tree, overhanging that side of my yard. Then, they go to climb back up the tree, which is why the traps I see plans for are all for wrapping around tree trunks - not really for putting in gardens. I'll keep looking, but I might brush some tanglefoot on the base of those plants - this works with ants and aphids on okra, but that's all I've used it for, in that way.

Where in hell did this thing come from????

I think this one is from Asia...surprise! Not sure if it is directly from there, or from another country, who got it first.

pepperhead212 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 26, 2020 11:45 pm I think this one is from Asia...surprise! Not sure if it is directly from there, or from another country, who got it first.

Which country? Asia is a big continent.

Looks like east Asia.

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en ... orUgTvYE8y

Well, that seems like fun.

These are horrible things and infest large trees by the thousands. They were first seen in a county near me in PA and they do not appear to have any predators. They secrete a honeydew as they feed on trees and this attracts honeybees. The bees feed on the honeydew and also pick up some of the pesticide that people use as a systemic drench around their trees. Penn state is finding this pesticide in honey.

Penn state is working on a biological to kill these pests. I hope that it works and soon.

You have to see it to believe it. Look at this photo

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view ... ajaxhist=0

They also feed on some vining crops. I have them all over eggplants and cucumbers, as well as on an oak tree. They seem to be killing the cucumbers by spreading bacterial disease. Southeastern Pennsylvania is where it started, but they are reproducing exponentially and moving out along the east coast and have gotten to the Midwest, too. The government control efforts are nonexistent, they are researching, since 2014, and Nothing else, just telling us it is the job of the individual homeowner to control the spread.

They originated from China and Vietnam, and have no predators here, except the homeowners who are after them. Seems like the rest of the country will be seeing them in the next few years.

This is a very destructive pest, especially to grapes but to many other crops and trees, as I have learned from experience. Also, it is no fun to see them everywhere, on plants, trees, porches, decks, screens, sides of homes, and sometimes they come down the chimney and get inside. They don’t bite humans, they just make us miserable and threaten the agriculture and timber industries. Experts predict billions of dollars of losses. The good news is they don’t feed on tomato vines.

I hope they figure out a control soon, or many of you will be seeing them, too, eventually.

I'll be watching my eggplants and cucurbits for these things.

I'm getting a lot more of these this season, and I'm finding them on my dill, cucumbers and gourds, and eggplants. And the Surround does not bother them at all - they are usually on the undersides, where I spray very well with Surround. I don't really see any damage to the plants (but I know they can spread disease, like other bugs do on cukes), but I don't know what they would be doing. I have not seen any at all on my tomatoes, peppers, or okra, yet. I might spray with pyrethrin, late in the day after the bees are back in their hives, if they get any worse. There are some maple trees in the area, and that's probably where they are coming from.

worth1 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:02 pm Where in hell did this thing come from????

My backyard, pretty much. About 5 miles from here.
They came over in a load of rock from China. Because, you know... it was cheaper than quarrying it here.
That is how the rich stay rich, import cheaper rocks, hire illegals to mow the yard.
Don't worry, though, no harm done. They're still rich.

JRinPA wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 10:56 am

worth1 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:02 pm Where in hell did this thing come from????

My backyard, pretty much. About 5 miles from here.
They came over in a load of rock from China. Because, you know... it was cheaper than quarrying it here.
That is how the rich stay rich, import cheaper rocks, hire illegals to mow the yard.
Don't worry, though, no harm done. They're still rich.

When all the environmental factors, including these bugs, are considered it does not look to be so cheap to do everything offshore after all, does it?

One neighbor just mentioned these to me yesterday - wondered if I knew anything about them! She told me that they had a bunch on some plants they had removed (I thought they were just cleaning out some "trash plants"!), and the fellow another house down had a major problem with one of his trees. I hope this doesn't result in some major use of non-organic insecticides, but I can see that happening, since these are not people who grow food.

Yesterday, I tried something else with these things - some garlic, added to the Surround, when I sprayed it on the cucumbers, bitter melons, and eggplants. There seem to be far less on the cukes and bitter melons, but it didn't seem to affect the EPs. I might try some other things in my next batch, like hot pepper, and maybe some tomato leaves, when I trim off some of the overgrown sections. They don't show up on tomatoes at all.

They're back! Saw a few little tiny ones at my place - about 1/8" black specks with white dots. But yesterday, at a friend's place, they were everywhere! They have a lot of trees, which is the problem there, and her son and I must have killed over a hundred of them. Looks like it's going to be worse than last year. I was hoping the winter would have killed more of them, though it wasn't that much colder than the year before.

I haven't seen any yet this year. I did see some termite swarmers the other day, but couldn't track them back to their source, that's worrying me a bit.

They are all over again. But I read something that gave me an idea - they are attracted to spearmint, and methyl salicylate, and brown sticky traps. So I am going to take some of those scrap pieces of bark, that fall off that sycamore tree, and spread some methyl salicylate on one, and some sort of attractant using spearmint on the other, let them dry, then spread some tanglefoot on them. I'll let you know if it works.

They love okra too! I've never seen spearmint or any other mint as particularly attractive to them.