Spotted Lanternflies Could Invade Your Home This Holiday Season

Each year, thousands of New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians head to Christmas Tree farms to pick out and cut down their own tree just in time for the holidays.

Just about every other year, Chris and I will head to one of the many tree farms in the Binghamton area and cut down our own tree. The years we don't, we buy a real tree from one of the roadside stands. This year, I will inspect my tree before I buy it, and I'm not talking about looking for bald spots.

I found a news article from last year that's still relevant for this year. According to Philly Voice, bringing a live Christmas tree into your home might also bring in bugs, including the spotted lanternfly if your tree is from Pennsylvania. Philly Voice spoke to an Arborist who said that an adult could lay its eggs on a Christmas tree and then the eggs could hatch in the warmth  of your home.

They said that it's highly unlikely for an adult lanternfly to make it through a winter, but they lay their eggs on trees, knowing that in the spring when the temperatures heat up, their eggs will hatch. So if you have a tree that has spotted lanternfly eggs on, there's a chance you will see them flying around your house by the time you take the tree down.

The report said that they are not dangerous, but I'm sure having 20 to 30 of them flying around your house would be really annoying.

I found an article on Nj.com, that stated that two years ago, a woman that she purchased a pre-cut Christmas tree and she found two groups of egg masses, which combined contained 60 to 100 eggs.

So basically what you have to do is check your tree for what appears to be egg masses or nests before loading the tree into your car. And it's not just the lanternfly that could lay eggs on your tree, it could be other insects and spiders as well.

[via Philly Voice/Nj.com]