Let’s be clear, this article is about an insect. However, if you know a few more species of trees than the usual larger trees like maples, oaks, pines, and spruces or the ornamental trees like the dogwoods, redbuds, and cherries, you might know this pests’ favorite tree to feed on, the Ailanthus Tree, or Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus Altissima). It’s an invasive tree species that grows along roadsides, highways, woodlines, disturbed areas in forests, and waste sites. The tree is resilient and grows where few other trees can, however it is completely shade intolerant and won’t succeed in established forests. Where it finds disturbed forest, it can actually interrupt the natural forest succession. It has a bipinnately compound leaf with many leaflets, and can be confused for walnut trees, sumacs, and hickories to the layperson. One way for a layperson to distinguish it between these others is the offensive odor a crushed leaflet gives off in the form of a peanut butter smell, but funkier.
Stuck with this invasive for hundreds of years, what can we do with it and how can we make it work for us? For one, it can be removed after being treated with herbicide, since it can reproduce via established roots, prolifically. Secondly, smaller specimens can be eradicated leaving large “trap” trees as bait for the real subject of this article, the Spotted Lantern Fly. If you have seen details within mailers, bulletins, emails, bus ads, etc. from various town shade tree commissions or the state, the spotted lantern fly has landed in New Jersey. The aim is to contain the infestation and manage it before the pest does serious damage to a wide variety of vegetation here. Suppress and control is the goal. But as for the “trap trees,” the spotted lantern fly prefers the Ailanthus Tree as a source for food. It seems these two old friends have found each other here in North America. These trees can then be treated with systemic (low impact, soil application) pesticides that in turn kill the insect. After these trees have taken a beating while stalling the proliferation of the pest in its tracks, the trees can then be safely removed following herbicide treatments.
Two pests for the price of one! There’s a lot of good information out there on how to do your part regarding the spotted lantern fly. One of those things is to talk to your arborist about it to get the ball rolling today.
