By Clint Thompson
The spotted lanternfly is currently not in a Georgia county that’s heavy into grape production. Brett Blaauw, assistant professor at the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, wants to keep it that way.
Part of Georgia grape producers’ defense against the invasive species is reporting it every time it is observed. Industry experts like Blaauw can then track it and ensure its presence is not a threat to the state’s grape production.
“We want to make sure we can document it so we know where it’s at and where it might become a problem,” Blaauw said. “Right now, it’s in Fulton County. That’s good, because very few grapes are grown in Fulton County, but if it gets over into Dawson and White, even up into further north, we really need to know where it’s at.”
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Blaauw highlighted the spotted lanternfly in a recent post on the UGA Extension Viticulture Blog. He noted that the spotted lanternfly is a non-native invasive insect that was first found in Pennsylvania in 2014.
Growers already have tools in their insecticide arsenal to combat the insect. They just need to avoid the insects from becoming widespread.
“If you’re used to using insecticides, which most of our grape growers are, we should have a good way of combatting the lanternflies,” Blaauw said. “A lot of our pyrethroids and neonicotinoids are already very effective at stopping lanternflies. Most of our growers already use things like imidacloprid; we use that against the sharpshooters. The biggest issue with them is the spread of Pierce’s Disease, but the imidacloprid for them will also work against spotted lanternfly.”