The Spotted Lanternfly invasion is here. Despite efforts to curb its advance, the inevitable wave of this latest non-native invasive species is crashing over Rockbridge this year as it did in Pennsylvania seven years ago and Maryland four years ago. M any folks a re a sking “what can I spray to kill these things?” T he better question is “Should I spray?” and I contend in most cases the answer is a very firm no. The effective sprays are generally contact insecticides and only the SLF that come into direct contact with the chemical will be affected. The sprays are at best marginally effective at adhering to the surfaces so achieving effective protection from SLF requires frequent re-application and even then is only marginally effective.
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