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Lantern flies.
- Thread starter Mark
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Last year I killed dozens every single morning before work and again afterwards. Probably killed close to 1000. This year a lot less
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That’s wild… we don’t even see them in the early morning hours. They don’t start showing up until around noon, when it gets warmer. Within 5 minutes of being outside with my coffee, one dove into my cup and made me sad, which inspired this thread. They usually fuck off right around dusk, so it’s a daily battle until then. I wish that citronella candles or something deterred them, because they’re more intrusive than the stink bugs.
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Kept a small broom outside and stomped or smacked them until they died. They’re dumb and would jump/fly right into the bottom of my shoe
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They were bad in 2021 and terrible in 2022. Infestation-level bad in 2022.
NYC implemented a lot of prevention measures for 2023 by scraping trees in the winter, pruning trees of heaven, etc. 2023 was still rough but not as bad as 2022.
This year, after the culling, it seems more birds realize they can eat them, and the tree scraping in the winter/spring really helped with decimating the population. I've seen a lot of them out today because its getting close to egg laying time, kill count was about 20 on my walk today. Nothing like years past, though.
I know they primarily tend to migrate around, so I guess they picked Maryland as the next target. PA was fucked up pretty bad before NYC got them in 2021.
NYC implemented a lot of prevention measures for 2023 by scraping trees in the winter, pruning trees of heaven, etc. 2023 was still rough but not as bad as 2022.
This year, after the culling, it seems more birds realize they can eat them, and the tree scraping in the winter/spring really helped with decimating the population. I've seen a lot of them out today because its getting close to egg laying time, kill count was about 20 on my walk today. Nothing like years past, though.
I know they primarily tend to migrate around, so I guess they picked Maryland as the next target. PA was fucked up pretty bad before NYC got them in 2021.
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They’re smart here, you have to sneak up on them or they’ll jump. The outside broom has gotten a lot of use. The bristles impale if they don’t squish, but they’re getting wise to that as well.
I’m not even 10 minutes from the PA border, apparently this part of MD has been seeing them for just as long as PA, but I didn’t start seeing them in the city until last year.
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Count your days, man. They're migrating fast. Though, it's possible the climate where you live can't sustain their growth cycle so they avoid that far north. If that's the case, you are lucky. They don't bite or anything, but they fly into your face and mouth without regard, and that gets old after the first one real quick lol.
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You might have still been in the Carolinas still when the stink bugs first started showing up, they’re kinda like that. Invasive insects that landed here on cargo. The lantern flies show up in a much larger volume than the stink bugs, but, thankfully, they don’t stink.
You’re probably right about the climate. I’ve noticed as soon as it hits the mid-60’s they’re back into hiding, and then they’re back out on the sunny surfaces first thing the next morning.
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I don't remember seeing them that much in SC, but I definitely saw stink bugs up in ME, and here in NY.
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From what I remember they started off the same way… they arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region and just spread like crazy from there. Stink bugs don’t seem to mind cooler temperatures as much as the lantern flies do, so it makes sense that they’d migrate that far north. You’ll be lucky if you don’t have to encounter them. Tommy hit the nail on the head… they get old, quick.
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Worst infestation I have ever seen is easily the Mayflies or whatever they are that invade Erie, PA. Holy shit.
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Don’t remind me. I lived there for 3 years
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Don’t remind me. I lived there for 3 years
Man, according to the waitress at the diner we went to, it was peak season for those things when I was there. I could not believe what I saw, and I’ve seen a wave of roaches flood out of a boarded up house that was on fire when the fire department popped the plywood off of the door frame before.
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I know a few summers I was in Maine there was some moth infestation. Might have been those.
Can you introduce them to this kind of lantern?
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