Invasives & beneficials

Invasive plants

Invasive plants choke out native species, thus reducing the food for native animals in the area. 

To help control invasives:

  • Learn how to recognize them
  • Remove them - because of their rapid spreading ability, many invasives take over areas quickly, again and again. Vigilance is necessary. Winter is the best time to remove invasives because vines are easier to cut - and it is a great way to get kids and teens outside.

What invasives do we find in our township? Here are some of the most common:

  • Autumn olive
  • Multiflora roses
  • Honeysuckle
  • Oriental Bittersweet (vine that will damage and kill trees)
  • Phragmites
  • Purple Loosestrife 
  • Tree-of-heaven (primary host for spotted lanternfly)
  • Mile-a-minute
  • Japanese barberry 

What shouldn’t you plant?  Numerous invasives are available at nurseries, but you should avoid planting them. Some of the main problem species:

  • Burning bush (destroys native understory and is poisonous to dogs)
  • Barberry (invasive and linked to lyme disease because it harbors mice and increases tick population)
  • Autumn olive (invasive and rapid grower)
  • Norway maple (displaces natives - plant sugar or red maple instead)
  • Bradford pear - cross-pollinates with related species then forces out the natives in wild areas
  • This PA Dept of Conservation and Natural Resources list warns of trees you absolutely shouldn’t plant! 

For more information:

Invasive insects

Spotted lanternfly
Introduced into Pennsylvania in 2014, this invasive insect has been slowly moving through Chester County and has now reached West Bradford. It does not bite or sting, but causes terrible damage to trees, gardens, and agricultural crops, especially grapes. 

To help stop the spread, learn how to identify them at all stages of their lifecycle, including egg masses. Check for and remove the egg masses from late fall to early spring. Remember that they may be underneath your car or in your wheel well. During all other times of the year, check for nymphs and adults, and keep your windows rolled up when you park. Don’t store things or park under infested trees, and do not transport firewood. Inspect your vehicle for SLF before traveling.  

Once the SLFs emerge, use one of these methods, according to French & Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust:

Smush the bugs - It is effective and the method that is least harmful to the environment. If the flies are on a hard surface, fly swatters and wiffle ball bats work well. If you miss the first time, don’t give up. Lanternflies jump well the first time, but then lose energy. If you follow the bug, you will likely get it on the second or third try.

Keep a spray bottle of insecticidal soap handy to spray lanternflies on contact - Penn State reports that the following soaps work: Concern Insect Killing Soap C, Ortho Elementals Insecticidal Soap, and Safer Insect-Killing-Soap. People also report success using a spray bottle with rubbing alcohol and water. Some people add dish soap. If you mist the bugs instead of using a stream, you are more likely to coat them before they jump away.

Capture them in a bottle - Hold a bottle, like a plastic Gatorade bottle, in front of the bug’s face. The bug will jump in.

Use a shop vac - If you have Spotted Lanternflies on your house, a shop vac will suck them up. Use water and Dawn dish soap in the reservoir to kill them.

Use sticky paper judiciously - If you have an infested tree, wrap sticky paper or inside-out duct tape near the bottom of the trunk in 2” or smaller strips to minimize harm to wildlife. Keep tape at least 4’ off the ground. Only use the tape around trees that the Spotted Lanternflies are attracted to or around deck posts. Monitor the tape closely. Get out your hose or pressure washer and spray the bugs with water, or get out your leaf blower and spray the bugs with air so they fall off of the tree. They will scramble to climb back up the tree, and they will get caught on the sticky paper. You may need to replace the sticky paper if it starts to fill up with lanternflies. Once most of the bugs have returned to the tree and been captured, remove the paper from your tree and burn it or fold it back on itself.

Spray weeds with vinegar - If the Spotted Lanternflies are on weeds you don’t want around anyway, spray them with vinegar. They die instantly, and you might get rid of the weed, too.

Plant more Milkweed - It appears that Spotted Lanternflies are attracted to Common Milkweed because the U.S. is not their home. The insects don’t know it is poisonous so they eat it and it kills them. The poisonous sap also slows them down so they are much easier to catch and smush in your hand. Bonus: Common Milkweed can save the Monarch butterfly from extinction too.

Shoot table salt at the insects at close range - Bug Assault is a gun that does this. It is meant to use on small insects like flies but it also works great on Spotted Lanternflies. The first shot may not kill them, but it will stun them, and then you can squish or step on them.

Use BB guns with no BBs - Pump the BB gun 4 to 5 times, and get really close to the insect.

Also see:

Stink bugs
Stink bugs are an invasive first identified in Pennsylvania in 1998. While primarily a nuisance bug for residents, they can cause serious damage to certain crops, mainly fruit and corn.

To help control them:

  • Plug holes - in siding, screens, and around windows and doors that they can creep through: in the fall, they seek the warmth of houses, and in the spring, they look to escape.
  • Collect them - vacuuming works, but releases the odor; simply sweeping them up allows you to drop them in a toilet. 
  • Spray them with a DIY mixture such as:   

1 part water, 1 part dish soap, and 1 part lavender oil

2 parts vinegar, 1 part dish soap, and 4 parts hot water

  • Trap them - only use sticky traps inside, so that they don’t trap other insects, such as beneficial bees

Sources:
Penn State Extension - stink bugs
Wikihow - stink bugs

Emerald ash borer
Attacking our local ash trees, emerald ash borers are causing the deaths of many of our beautiful large specimens. Signs of their presence include:

  • Thinning or dying of tree crowns
  • Suckers at the base of the tree
  • Splitting bark
  • Tunneling under the bark
  • D-shaped exit holes
  • Increased woodpecker activity

The best thing you can do is to help stop the spread, by not transporting firewood and by buying it only locally. Some insecticides can also be applied, but should only be applied in compliance with good practice so that it doesn’t kill beneficial insects and other wildlife.

See the Emerald Ash Borer Information Network for more information.

Beneficial insects

Don’t be afraid of bugs! So many in our area help maintain our ecosystem’s balance. For example, we all know that bees are good pollinators, but so are wasps and flies. Others help control invasive insects: for example, lady beetles eat aphids, whiteflies, and mealybugs. And though they sound fierce, they are no harm to us: “assassin beetles” (pictured, from Wikicommons) feed on Japanese beetles.

You can’t kill the bad bugs without killing the good ones, so pesticides should be avoided. Instead, cultivate a healthy yard and garden that helps keep itself in check and research natural and organic methods of pest control, such as using milky spore powder for Japanese beetles. A little bit of prevention and attention goes a long way: for example, to control cabbage worms, you can use row covers, place fabric covers over individual cabbages (or other affected vegetables), or simply hunt down the eggs and caterpillars and eliminate them manually. 

Sources and information:

 

Monarchs & other beneficial butterflies
West Bradford hosts monarchs as they make their long trips from the Northeast to Mexico. We can help preserve these beautiful endangered insects by making our yards more hospitable to them. This means:

  • Avoiding pesticides and herbicides
  • Planting milkweed and other plants that attract pollinators and provide nectar. Many options exist:

Antelope horn milkweed 
Green milkweed
Maximillian sunflower
Fall aster
Check this list for more information

Perhaps you have a section of your yard that can be dedicated to providing a stopping, feeding, and breeding place for monarchs on their journeys. Why not create a monarch habitat?

Watch this space: West Bradford hopes to create a municipal monarch and pollinator habitat in 2021!