Lanternfly Warning For Six States Can Infest Your Home Through Real Christmas Trees

Spotted Lanternflies Can Infest Your Home Through A Live Christmas Tree
    Spotted Lanternflies Can Infest Your          Home Through A Live Christmas Tree

Lanternfly Warning For Six States Bug Can Infest Your Home Through Real Christmas Trees

The spotted lanternfly could spoil many families’ holiday season, according to New Jersey agricultural expert Joseph Zoltowski, director of the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s Division of Plant Industry, speaking to NJ.com.

Zoltowski says the tree-killing insect could potentially spread to homes by hiding in Christmas trees and leaving eggs to hatch. The spotted lanternfly, which is a native of eastern Asia, arrived in the U.S. four years ago in Pennsylvania and has spread throughout the eastern parts of the state.

The bug has recently been detected in three New Jersey counties—Hunterdon, Mercer and Warren. It is believed to spread by attaching itself and its eggs to vehicles carrying wood, landscaping materials and agricultural produce, which would include the bark and branches of Christmas trees. “They’re very hard to spot,” said Zoltowski.

A woman in Warren County, New Jersey, confirmed that she found lanternfly eggs attached to her Christmas tree once the insects hatched inside her home, according to Zoltowski. The expert said that there were two egg masses discovered in the bark, which are capable of storing as many as 30 to 50 eggs each.

Zoltowksi suggests that those planning to get a pre-cut Christmas tree should inspect every branch carefully for eggs and both live and dead insects before making a purchase of a live Christmas tree. Though the tree itself would only be killed by a large number of these insects, any presence of the bugs could spread in your home. “It’s a bad bug in that it could affect all types of agriculture,” Zoltowski said.

According to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture: “The Spotted Lanternfly adult is approximately 1 inch long and a half-inch wide at rest. The fore wing is grey with black spots and the wings tips are reticulated black blocks outlined in gray. “The hind wings have contrasting patches of red and black with a white band. The legs and head are black; the abdomen is yellow with broad black bands. Immature stages are black with white spots, and develop red patches as they grow.

“Adults and nymphs feed on phloem tissues of young stems with their piercing and sucking mouth parts and excrete large flies
quantities of liquid (honeydew) [which] facilitates the growth of sooty mold,” reports the department. Grape and apple growers in Pennsylvania are on high alert as female lanternflies are laying eggs for the following year, according to
American Agriculturalist.

“All lanternflies are in their adult stage right now, and females are laying eggs on hard surfaces such as trees, stones, fences, fence posts or vineyard posts,” according to American Agriculturalist’s report. “Spotted lanternflies have an apparent appetite for grapes, wine or juice, with 200 to 250 feedings per vine.”

For more information read The New Jersey Department of Agriculture guidelines on spotted lanternfly identification and reporting. Written by Jason Hall at Newsweek.com

Is A Lighted Christmas Tree on Your List This Holiday Season?

 

Is A Lighted Christmas Tree on
Your List This Holiday Season?

 

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When you shop a Team Santa Inc. web store, not only do you get a low price guarantee, but we offer the finest customer service found anywhere, online and off. Sam Bartolo, General Manager and his team have as much holiday decorating experience as anyone. He also has the patience of a Saint. No kidding around. If you have a question about your holiday decorations display, go ask Sam. He doesn’t care whether you buy something or not. He just loves to help all our wonderful website(s) users.  “How many lights do I need for a 7 foot tree”? Sam knows the answer. “How many sets of icicle lights do I need for the front of my house”? Sam knows the answer to that one too. He is an encyclopedia of knowledge related to holiday decorating. Anything you want to know, just ask Sam @ Team Santa Inc.

 

Team Santa Inc. has the largest selection of both lighted and unlit artificial Christmas trees sold ANYWHERE. Our lighted trees have super high quality LED mini lights pre-installed on the tree.  Our selection has over 1500 artificial Christmas trees to choose from, so there is no shortage of selection. Come one, Come all, the current 10% off coupon code is “turkey”(no quotes or parenthesis) + FREE shipping on all trees 5 foot trees and over, that are delivered inside the continental US. The deals are just too good to pass up.

 

EXTRA, EXTRAREAD ALL ABOUT IT!  Did you hear about the current Lanternflies problem on television, Internet or the newspaper?  YUCK!  Live Christmas tree farms in six states have already been affected by Lanternflies thus far. Is bringing a live Christmas tree into your clean home, worth possibly infesting your family with Lanternflies? Just imagine when waking up Christmas morning to learn that you are sharing your pillow with Larry the Lanternfly? ‎It’s serious, so please read about it on our blog or check the news.

 

Most all of our high quality artificial Christmas trees include a 10 year warranty on the tree and 5 years on the lights. Team Santa Inc. stands behind all products we sell.  Come see what we’re talking about. Then you might want to tell a friend. Until next time.

 

Happy Decorating!

 

Team Santa Inc.

 

PS – Decorating contest with SIX CASH prizes. First prize $1000 CASH. $2500 total CASH prizes. Details in next week’s direct email message.

 

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