Spotted Lanternflies Have Reached Greenfield, and the City Is Asking Residents to Check Trees, Grapevines and Car Wheel Wells for Egg Masses

The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources has confirmed a spotted lanternfly infestation in Greenfield, the city’s conservation agent told the Conservation Commission on Tuesday, Oct. 27. The Greenfield Recorder reported that Jessica Siegel did not yet know where in the city the insects were spotted, and that state surveyors will visit to measure how far the infestation has spread. Until now, the insect’s known foothold in Franklin County was in Sunderland, south of the city. With egg-laying season under way, the city is asking residents to look closely at trees, grapevines and even the wheel wells of their cars.

A corner of the state that had been mostly clear

In September, the insect was already confirmed in more than 145 Massachusetts cities and towns and in every region except Cape Cod and the Islands, according to a Sept. 9 MDAR press release. MDAR Commissioner Ashley Randle said in that release that “public partnership is an essential part of this effort.”

Western Massachusetts was the gap. In a report published by GBH and New England Public Media on Sept. 14, MDAR environmental biologist Jennifer Forman Orth said the state no longer expects to wipe out the insect. “It’s just too tricky,” she said. The state was still asking for reports from areas it considered uninfested, including much of Berkshire and Franklin counties. Greenfield is the Franklin County seat.

Forman Orth also said the insects will eventually turn up anywhere their host plants grow. The insect’s preferred host is tree of heaven, an invasive tree, and it also feeds on grapevines, according to the same report.

The insect was first spotted in Massachusetts in 2021, and the same report said its spread now reaches nearly every county. The state’s strategy has shifted from eradication to slowing it down, with pesticide treatments and crop netting recommended for growers. Elise Petit, a faculty member at UMass Amherst’s Stockbridge School of Agriculture, gave homeowners the simplest instruction: check clothing and cars before leaving an infested area.

Where the egg masses hide

Fall is the season for egg masses, and those are what Greenfield residents are being asked to find. The Recorder described them as flat gray patches that look like dry, cracked mud and are hard to tell apart from tree bark. MDAR’s release puts them at about an inch long, flat and gray or beige.

Siegel and the city pointed to three places to check:

• Trees, especially tree of heaven and maples.
• Grapevines, including vines on backyard arbors and fences.
• Vehicles, including wheel wells, where females have been known to lay eggs. The Recorder noted the insects have also laid eggs on trains, which helps them spread.

Egg masses also turn up on flat, hard surfaces close to infested trees. UMass Extension’s fruit team has photographed them on the underside of trellis posts and lists equipment, vehicles, posts, pallets and nursery stock as places to look.

Scrape, squish or trap

“Scraping and squishing egg masses is what is most recommended,” Conservation Commission Chair Elizabeth Garofalo said at the meeting, according to the Recorder. UMass Extension adds a detail that matters: each mass should be scraped and crushed completely, because simply knocking it off the bark may not stop it from hatching.

For adults, which have gray forewings with black spots over red hind wings and are active in late summer and fall, MDAR suggests circle traps or sticky bands on tree trunks, or vacuuming the insects and leaving them in the canister for at least 24 hours. The state’s management guide for homeowners in infested areas also covers removing tree of heaven from a property, and MDAR says chemical pesticides can be used for heavy infestations.

The insects do not bite or sting and are not a direct threat to people or pets, MDAR says. Adults feed on sap from more than 100 kinds of plants and can seriously harm grapevines, tree of heaven and small black walnut saplings. The sticky honeydew they leave behind coats decks, cars and outdoor furniture, encourages sooty mold and draws bees, wasps and ants.

Massachusetts is not alone in asking for help this fall. Lovely Garden Roots recently reported that Vermont is asking residents to search patio furniture, firewood and cars for egg masses until the first hard frost, and New Hampshire, where the insect was first detected in Salem, approved $24,620 in federal money to fight it. Greenfield’s case is closer to home for western Massachusetts gardeners, because it puts the insect in the county the state had treated as mostly uninfested only six weeks ago.

How Greenfield residents can report a sighting

Greenfield residents who find lanternflies or egg masses can call Siegel at 413-772-1548, ext. 3, the Recorder reported. Sightings can also be submitted to the state through the MDAR spotted lanternfly report form, ideally with a photo.

The vehicle check matters most for anyone driving out of an infested area, whether for a daily commute or a weekend visit. MDAR’s September release asks drivers to inspect their vehicles before they leave so they do not carry insects or egg masses to a new town, and the department has posted short videos showing how to do it.

Before filing, MDAR asks residents to check the state’s distribution map. In towns already listed as infested, especially around Springfield, Worcester and Attleboro, reports are optional. In towns not yet on the map, the state asks for a report and a photo. State information, including how to inspect a car before leaving an infested area, is collected at mass.gov/slf.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Stephen Ausmus – Public domain/Wikimedia Commons