How to Get Rid of Spotted Lanternflies (Kill Lanternflies in 2023)

Have you spotted an unusually bright-colored moth near your home? You’re likely seeing a new invasive species: the spotted lanternfly (SLF). Native to China, India, and Vietnam, this unwelcome pest was discovered in the US in 2014 and has since spread to more than 14 states. If you’re seeing adults or nymphs in your own backyard, you may have to act fast to protect plant and tree species in your yard.

This article can help you better understand how to get rid of spotted lanternflies around your yard. Once we explain how you can identify this invasive pest, we walk through the products and methods you can use to protect backyard plants and control SLF in your yard.

Spotted Lanternfly Identification and Life Cycle

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of cultural and biological control, we need to answer a fundamental question: what is the spotted lanternfly anyway?

The spotted lanternfly is a type of moth native to east Asian countries like China, India, and Vietnam. Sometimes referred to as SLF, these pests have become economically significant pests on the East Coast due to their proclivity for soybeans, stonefruits, grape vines, and other plants. These pests kill plants and destroy agricultural livelihoods while crowding out native species and disrupting natural ecosystems.

You can understand the lifecycle of the spotted lanternfly in three stages:

1. Eggs: In late summer, adult spotted lanternflies find a mate and lay their eggs on any flat surface. Since their eggs are often hard to identify, it’s not uncommon for breeding populations to go unnoticed until after nymphs hatch in the spring.
2. Nymphs: There are four different instars of spotted lanternflies, each of which look like larger versions than the last. These six-legged bugs sport an all-black carapace with white spots and red colorations depending on their age.
3. Adults: Spotted lanternfly nymphs become adults in less than a year. They don’t live long after they find a mate and lay their eggs in early fall, although the next generation typically emerges a few months later in spring.

Now, let’s take a closer look at how to identify spotted lanternfly activity depending on their stage of life.

Adults

Adult moths are possibly the easiest lifecycle stage to identify around the house.

You can identify adult spotted lanternflies by their:

• Spotted wings. Adult spotted lanternflies have gray and tan wings with red underwings that only appear in flight.
• Large legs and eyes. You can easily see the eyes and legs of SLF adults from a distance. Look for six thick legs bowed up on the surfaces where they rest.
• Large size. The adult spotted lanternfly is slightly bigger than a US quarter, which is 24.26 millimeters in diameter.

Nymphs

Even though the adult SLF is the most accessible life stage to see, their activity isn’t an ecological danger — it’s the activity of their nymphs. Young nymphs hop great distances to access food from plant to plant, causing massive damage to tree bark, leaves, and herbaceous plants.

You can identify spotted lanternfly nymphs by:

• Their polka dots. Every instar of the spotted lanternfly nymph has a black body with white spots.
• Their red coloration. Watch for 4th stage instars of spotted lanternflies, which sport bright red color patterns and polka-dotted carapaces. Remember that early nymphs (instars one through four) do not have a bright red appearance.
• Their jumping behavior. Immature spotted lanternflies jump extraordinary distances to escape squishing or capture. Try aiming a few inches before the pest or using a larger instrument to strike them on the ground.

Eggs

Spotted lanternfly adults and nymphs cause massive amounts of damage to both backyard, ornamental, and agricultural plants. However, failing to spot and dispose of their egg masses could make the problem worse.

How do you identify spotted lanternfly eggs? That primarily depends on how closely you want to look.

You can identify SLF egg masses by:

• The white or brown residue. This pale gunk is easy to spot.
• Grey-brown egg cases running up and down trees. Use your fingers to find the raised portions.
• What looks like white fungus ‘growing’ on your tree. Ask an arborist for help if you’re unsure.

Now that we’ve discussed the lifecycle and identification process of spotted lanternflies, it’s time to explore what it takes to kill SLF at any stage of life.

How do you get rid of spotted lanternflies?

Getting rid of spotted lanternflies is no easy task. Thankfully, there are an abundance of products, tools, and systemic insecticides you can use to defend your property and native insect species.

Here’s the quick version to get you started:

Adults

• Squish adults against trees
• Try injections for tree trunks
• Encourage natural predators

Egg masses

• Scrape egg masses into a plastic bag
• Spray vinegar for contact kills
• Spray insecticides, vinegar, hand sanitizer, or Dawn soap

Nymphs

• Install traps for immature stages
• Drop nymphs into hand sanitizer
• Use injections on certain tree species

Now that we’ve looked at the crash course on SLF control, let’s take a closer look at how to kill SLF adults, egg masses, and nymphs.

Insecticides & Chemical Control

There are two different ways to approach SLF control: the use of natural compounds, or insecticides.

We’ve broken these down into their own separate sections so you can make an informed decision for your property.

Here are some ways to kill SLF without damaging or killing affected trees or herbaceous plants.

Insecticides

• Tree injections: You can hire a professional arborist to inject tree trunks with a systemic insecticide. Not only can this get rid of eggs, but it can also dissuade nymphs from climbing up the tree bark. Since trunk injections pose little if any risk to ground water, you can continue to treat with systemic insecticides for years to come.
• Trunk spray: To prevent adults from laying eggs. spray your tree trunk with a mix of one of the following:

1. Bifenthrin
2. Dinotefuran
3. Carbaryl
4. Imidacloprid

Trees treated with trunk or foliar spray have a higher likelihood of staying pest-free. The insecticide residue can also prevent egg masses from cropping up in the future.

• Soil drench: You can apply a soil drench of systemic insecticides so spotted lanternflies can’t lay eggs during late summer and early fall. Remember: soil drenching could potentially affect tree roots and lead to pesticide contamination. Proceed with caution and follow best practices for your area.

Natural remedies

• Dawn dish soap: Mix equal parts Dawn and water to spray on spotted lanternflies. Keep in mind you must make contact with the pest to kill them completely.
• Vinegar: A spray bottle of vinegar is an effective way to kill insects on contact. Be sure to thoroughly soak the egg, nymph, or adult in the vinegar to break the pest lifecycle.
• Insecticidal soap: If you want to treat both spotted lanternflies and secondary pests at the same time, you can use insecticidal soap on any fruit tree trunk or fruit-bearing plant (like grape vines). You may want to apply treatment in the late summer or early fall to kill these insect pests before they lay eggs.

Biological Control

Systemic insecticides are one of the more effective ways to get rid of SLF adults and nymphs. However, they can also lead to a number of systemic problems, including insecticides water contamination and bee health decline. If you’re looking to defend your plants without introducing more harm to your environment, you can pivot to biological controls by encouraging habitat for natural predators.

Here’s how you can weaponize natural enemies of the SLF without causing more damage to your yard.

Natural Enemies Compared

While the spotted lanternfly does not have many enemies in the US, there are a few formidable predators that would be happy to gobble them up as a snack. These pests include:

• Wheel bugs: These nonaggressive pests have a penchant for laying eggs next to spotted lanternfly egg masses, which hatch earlier than the moths do so they can await a quick meal.
• Spiders: Spider webs catch both nymphs and adults, preventing them from spreading out and infesting more plants or fruit trees.
• Birds: Songbirds like cardinals and other smaller species feed on spotted lanternfly adults. Just keep in mind this won’t stop mature pests from laying eggs before their untimely end.

Other insects, including ants, wasps, and praying mantis, are great options for long-term control. If you happen to own chickens or even guinea hens, feel free to let them free range in potentially infested areas.

Cultural Control

Cultural controls for SLF rely on changing your management practices to stop pests in their tracks.

Luckily, this doesn’t need to be hard to do. With the right systems in place, you may be able to create a passive management system with traps, sticky tape, and other effective methods.

Here are some ways to manage SLF without introducing chemicals or relying solely on native pollinators.

Stomp or squash spotted lanternflies

This is perhaps the simplest and most straightforward lanternfly control mechanism on this list. If you see an adult or early nymph spotted lanternfly in your yard, simply use your foot or a fly swatter to crush them against the ground.

Keep in mind spotted lanternflies are extremely tricky to catch. Not only can nymphs jump several inches at a time, but adults can take flight just out of reach and drift to a higher part of a tree.

You may want to use:

• Electric fly swatters or lamps
• The back of a rolled-up newspaper
• A large plastic or paper plate

Be sure to take a picture of the spotted lanternflies you kill and send them to your local extension office.

Trap spotted lanternflies

Don’t have the time to crush spotted lanternflies on your own? You can always opt for trapping instead. If you don’t want to buy spotted lanternfly specific traps, you can always opt for tape or sticky paper.

First, identify any infested trees where eggs, nymphs, or adults may be hiding out. Next, wrap duct tape or sticky paper along the bottom of the tree to stop the invasive pest from depositing egg masses. You may want to water the bottom of the tree to disturb lanternflies and push them towards the tacky strips.

Keep an eye your sticky paper as it fills up with bugs. Then, remove the paper with a knife or sharp tool. This allows you to continuously treat trees without harming the trunk or risking environmental damage.

Just remember invasive host trees like the Tree of Heaven should be removed completely rather than treated or controlled.

And speaking of alianthus. . .

Get rid of host trees

Spotted lanternflies feed on more than 70 host plants, including ornamental trees like birches and maples. However, they do have a soft spot for one unwanted invasive species: the Tree of Heaven, or A. altissima.

It’s relatively simple to spot a Tree of Heaven on your property. Just look for:

• A fast growing tree with smooth, grey bark.
• A tree with odd or even compound leaves in a pinnate order.
• A tree with small, white flowers and red ‘helicopter’ (or winged) seeds.
• A foul-smelling ‘weedy’ tree that seems to push its way into any environment.

If you encounter an ailanthus host tree anywhere on your property, you can bet on dozens of spotted lanternflies flocking to the area to lay eggs. Your best bet is cutting the tree down and burning it to prevent the moths from thriving in your area. Alternatively, you can hire a tree service to cut and dispose of the tree on your behalf.

Plant defensive milkweed

Milkweed is a beautiful plant with many benefits for native pollinators. However, it may also be a passive destroyer of spotted lanternflies — and they don’t even know it’s dangerous!

Some citizen scientists have found that spotted lanternfly nymphs seem flock to milkweed in droves. Since they don’t realize the plant is poisonous, they may consume the sap and die on the spot. They may also become slower and easier to catch, which makes biological control easier on you.

Again, keep in mind this is observational data — the jury’s still out on whether or not milkweed really kills SLF. However, it certainly couldn’t hurt to plant some pollinator-friendly plants. Your yard (and local honey bees) may thank you for it.

Spotted Lanternfly FAQs

Still have some questions about how to get rid of spotted lanternflies? We’ve collected a group of frequently asked questions to help you make more informed decisions.