<html><head></head><body><div style="font-family:courier new, courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><div style="font-family:courier new, courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><div id="ydpfdc72635yiv6761061526"><div style="font-family:courier new, courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span><p class="ydpc5ecb370MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> I live literally on the front line of the
panic/war on the Spotted Lanternfly near Shartlesville in Berks County, PA. We
use I-78, the apparent northern border of the spread, as a local commuting
route. Blue Mountain and the Appalachian Trail are a few minutes north of us.
There is at least one large fruit orchard nearby. We buy vegetables from a
local organic grower.</span></p>
<p class="ydpc5ecb370MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> This summer I
will be spending a lot of time along the Appalachian Trail and other trails in
Berks County, PA. My goals are twofold. The first is to continue research
on <i>Castanea dentata</i> and its natural comeback from the blight
while taking down the severely misguided American Chestnut Foundation. The
second will be observation of the spotted lanternfly to learn as much as I can
as fast as I can. To this end I will be especially looking at <i>Celastrus
orbiculatus</i>, various <i>Lonicera sp.</i>, <i>Rosa multiflora</i>,
other woody non-natives from Asia and naturally <i>Ailanthus altissima</i>
to see if the spotted lanternfly feeds on these plants from its point of
origin.</span></p>
<p class="ydpc5ecb370MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> It would be a
valuable research project if someone were to collect these plants along with
native equivalents and test them directly with the spotted lanternfly to learn
which ones are potential food sources. For now, the local agriculture people
are focusing on <i>Ailanthus</i>. However, if the Asian plants serve as
preferential food sources over native plants we will have an overwhelming
breeding area because in Berks County the understory is almost all non-native
in large areas of disturbed forest.</span></p>
<p class="ydpc5ecb370MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;"> A big concern of
mine with the panic locally is that scared people act stupidly and scared
stupid people act very stupidly. (Then there are the illiterate politicians we
have to deal with in Berks County and Pennsylvania who are feeding the panic.) My
expectation is that many farmers will be loading up their fruit and vegetable
crops with more pesticides than they already are. This makes me hesitant to buy
local produce unless it is labelled "organic". It will also add more
poisons to our streams, land, ground water and the air we breathe. We are
already inundated with agricultural poisons - how much more can we and the
ecosystems take? Many of the local ecosystems are already in a catastrophic
state - I fear the additional damage.</span></p>
<p class="ydpc5ecb370MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> My understanding of how <i>Ailanthus</i> is killed by the PA Game Commission is that they spray
the trees with glyphosate and/or triclopyr. If this is still the practice and
is generalized with the PA Ag department, then the collateral damage will be
huge as spray drift is hard to control and perfect windless conditions are
almost non-existent. I understand that to use other methods is impractical with
the number of <i>Ailanthus</i> trees in
Berks and Schuylkill counties, especially with clonal stands. However, there
must be a better method or at least more benign chemicals which do the same.</span></p>
<p class="ydpc5ecb370MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> It appears that
the PA Ag folks are falling into the Japanese beetle trap syndrome by setting
up trap trees around fields of vulnerable crops. The result will be instead of
keeping the spotted lanternfly away from the crops, it will be bringing them
into the fields instead. I have heard that the best place for a Japanese beetle
trap is your neighbor's yard as it will attract them there instead of to your
yard. This is good advice for keeping the spotted lanternfly off crops.</span></p>
<p class="ydpc5ecb370MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> Our organic garden was severely damaged by
the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug last summer. The tomatoes which survived the
localized tomato blight were full of bites from the BMSB. We lost about 90% of
our late season pole beans to the BMSB. Peppers were untouched as were other
vegetables. If the spotted lanternfly has similar feeding habits to the BMSB
our garden will be an unfortunately great place to observe how these two
insects interact.</span></p>
<p class="ydpc5ecb370MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> Finally, if the
hatching of the spotted lanternfly eggs is in sync with the leafing out
of <i>Ailanthus</i>, it is a strong indicator that <i>Ailanthus</i> is
a requirement for successful development and reproduction. Near home in the lower
elevations, the non-native understory is in leaf. <i>Ailanthus</i> appears
to still be in dormancy, even though the temperatures this weekend may change
that. </span></p>
<p class="ydpc5ecb370MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> These are just my
thoughts and concerns.</span></p>
<p class="ydpc5ecb370MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="ydpc5ecb370MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">
Richard Gardner</span></p></span><br></div></div></div></div></body></html>