# Spotted lanternfly

- URL: https://backyardgrapes.com/diseases/spotted-lanternfly/
- Scientific name: Lycorma delicatula
- Category: Insect / pest
- Affects: Leaves, Shoots & canes, Trunk & cordons
- Severity: high
- Favored by: Invasive (notably the eastern US); often builds up near tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus); swarms in late summer/autumn.
- Easily confused with: Grape mealybug, Grape leafhopper

**Summary:** An invasive planthopper that swarms vines, sucking sap and coating them in sticky honeydew and sooty mould.

**What to look for:**
- Masses of grey-and-red winged planthoppers, plus black-and-white then red spotted nymphs, on trunks, cordons, and shoots.
- Weeping sap, wilting, and loss of vigour and winter hardiness after heavy feeding.
- Sticky honeydew on leaves and fruit that blackens with sooty mould.
- Grey, mud-like egg masses on trunks, posts, and nearby surfaces.

**Treatment — Cultural / prevention:**
- Scrape and destroy egg masses on trunks and posts through winter.
- Remove nearby tree-of-heaven, its favoured host, or use it as a trap plant.
- In newly invaded areas, report sightings to local agriculture authorities.

**Treatment — Organic / low-toxicity:**
- Circle/sticky traps on trunks catch climbing nymphs (screen them to spare birds).
- Insecticidal soap or horticultural oil knocks down nymphs on contact.

**Treatment — Conventional (chemical):**
- Contact and systemic insecticides labelled for spotted lanternfly during heavy pressure, respecting pre-harvest intervals.

The spotted lanternfly is an invasive planthopper from Asia that has spread rapidly
through parts of the eastern United States, and grapes are among its favourite crops.
Large numbers pierce the vine to feed on sap, weakening it, reducing yield, and leaving
vines less able to survive winter. Unlike many pests it attacks the woody parts as well
as the foliage, blanketing trunks and cordons.

Their feeding produces enormous amounts of honeydew, which drips over the canopy and fruit
and grows black sooty mould, fouling the crop. Management combines destroying the
distinctive mud-like egg masses in winter, removing the tree-of-heaven that fuels
populations, trapping climbing nymphs, and spraying under heavy pressure. In regions where
it hasn't been seen before, reporting it early helps slow the invasion.

**Image credits:**
- Spotted lanternflies feeding on a grapevine, on the canes and around the clusters — [Photo: Erica Smyers, Penn State, Penn State News](https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/penn-state-extension-ag-officials-look-slow-spread-spotted-lanternfly)
- Heavy infestation of adult spotted lanternflies on a grapevine trunk beside ripening clusters — [Photo: Penn State, Penn State News](https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/grapevines-may-only-need-help-survive-heavy-spotted-lanternfly-infestations) (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
- First instar spotted lanternfly nymphs on the underside of a young grape leaf — [Photo: Heather Leach, Penn State Extension](https://extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly-management-in-vineyards)

**Sources:**
- [Spotted Lanternfly Management in Vineyards](https://extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly-management-in-vineyards) — Penn State Extension
- [Spotted Lanternfly in Virginia Vineyards: Lycorma delicatula (White)](https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/ENTO/ENTO-323/ENTO-323.html) — Virginia Cooperative Extension (Virginia Tech)
- [Pest alert: spotted lanternfly in grape production](https://cfaes-contenthub.org.ohio-state.edu/fact-sheet/pest-alert-spotted-lanternfly-grape-production) — Ohio State University Extension (CFAES Knowledge Hub)
- [Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) II - Scouting and Management](https://extension.umd.edu/resource/spotted-lanternfly-slf-ii-scouting-and-management) — University of Maryland Extension