By: Hettie Basil Lighttower

Most of us are aware of those pesky critters called the Spotted Lantern Fly (SLF). For the last few years the USDA warned us that they are spreading and will soon come to a backyard near you. And indeed they have been a real nuisance and pest. And yes, they have multiplied quite efficiently and have been everywhere this summer in West Virginia.
The warning also consisted of what to do if you spot them. Pictures were published about the different phases of their life cycle so we can readily identify them. Instructions were to destroy them when you see them so we can get the spreading of them under control. Sounds like an easy to task to squash a bug.
It is a little sad to have to kill them when they are so pretty! They start out as those cute little ladybug looking nymphs black with white polka-dots and little black legs and have a pointed nose. And then they do into the next phase they are a brilliant red. I vibrant red that we don’t see so much in nature. And again they have the gorgeous white polka-dots and the little black legs. If you didn’t know that they were so invasive and such a big problem, you may find their cute little selves quite endearing! I have.
But here I go with the setting my feeling aside and getting to the killing. Yep. I’ll just step on them! Oh but wait, where did it go??? Oh here are some on the tree, easy peasy…. I will just swat them with the fly swatter, voila!!! Wait…. They saw me coming??? Are you kidding me? Now they are all on the opposite side of the tree trunk. Ok, I’ll play the game….. I might have gotten one, then the 30 others, hopped into an invisible abyss and never seen again. Wow, this is not an easy task to “just kill them” .
It is especially not easy if you are cognizant of not spraying bug spray poison in your yard or garden area because you know of the dangers chemicals pose to every other living thing, including yourself or your pets. It is not safe to breathe in any of that stuff and outside, a slight breeze can cause you to get it right in your face. So spraying is out.
So, that was a fail. Ok now I guess I will just have to wait and hope for better luck when they have all turned into adults. Yeh, they will be slower and I can get them then. Well not so much. They are still so fast and now with their wings can even escape to a little farther. Still gorgeous with their submarine gray wings and bright red underwings and speckles and spots! A dream come true for Ohio State fans.
Well with all the trials of trying to kill them off manually, it was not so successful. But there is NEW NEWS about them and their demise. Although I think I will miss the little guys if they all get eradicated. So, this is interesting. While browsing in the milkweed field I noticed a few SLF belly up, legs up on a milkweed plant or two. I thought, well that is odd. A spider must have got it. Each time I saw one dead on the leaf, I searched around for a spider or a spider’s nest. Never did see any. I continued my field research and about my business.
I came home and opened up my messages to reply to folks at the end of my day. A usually routine for me as a business owner. To my surprise, a short article was sent to me from my cousin. Guess what it was about!!! Exactly!! Spotted-Lantern Flies!!!
Specifically it was new research showing that when SLF land on a milkweed plant and they nibble on it, they are not used to the toxicity of the milkweed plant. It doesn’t make them sick like it would other animals that would do the same. NOPE. It actually kills them! What? I literally just saw this for the first time in the field I just left! What are the chances?
So, I read on and was very excited to see that they are attracted to the plant but they die shortly after the first bite. This was being studied in a lab. How exciting!
I was thinking that if you have an old blender and wouldn’t use it again for anything else, you could put some milkweed leaves in with some water and blend them up. Put the mixture in an old spray bottle, that again you would NOT use for anything afterwards….. You could create your very own natural and SLF spray. I think adding some cooking oil to the mix would make the solution a little heavier so it doesn’t spray in the air so much like an aerosol would and be very careful not to spray it if it is windy. You could NOT get this in your eyes!!! Milkweed sap can cause temporary blindness if a certain amount gets in it (no one talks about that when trying to save the monarchs). But it would really work for killing the tricky tricksters where they hide on the tree trunks before they get their wings.
As always, feel free to send in your notions and comments to [email protected]. I will include them in the next available column as per their arrival relative to the publication deadline of Tuesday by 12 p.m. of the same week. If you wish to be anonymous, let me know. Kindness is contagious~*