Recent Rutgers Adivisories and News

IPM Update

Fruit IPM for July, 27, 2018
 
Spotted Lanternfly in New Jersey

Rutgers Led "Tick Blitz" Finds Exotic Longhorned Ticks and Aggressive Lone Star Tick in New Locations Across New Jersey

Spiderwort

The genus name honors John Tradescant (1570-1638) and his son John Tradescant (1608-1662), botanists and successive gardeners to Charles I of England.

Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) is native wildflower.  A herbaceous plant that grows up to three feet tall.  Noted for its three-petaled violet-blue flowers with six contrasting yellow stamens which grow in terminal clusters.  The flowers open a few at a time and for only one day.  The root system is thick, fleshy, and fibrous, sending off occasional offshoots nearby. Spidewort thrives in thickets, meadows, roadsides and woodland borders.


While the flowers are beautiful, spiderwort can take over a flower bed.  Spiderwort is difficult control because of its large root crown which provides energy for regrowth.  In small areas and hand removal is the best method of control.

Tradescantia virginiana

Additional Information

Tradescantia virginiana - Missouri Botanical Garden

Virginia Spiderwort -USDA Nation Resources Conservation Service

The Collectors: Tradescants

Spiderwort spreading and could become a hay field pest - University of Florida

New Pest on the Rise - Spotted Lanterfly

The Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (White) is neither fly nor a month. The Spotted Lanternfly is a native insect of China, India and Vietnam and an invasive planthopper.  At first, the spotted lanterfly had only been found in Berks County, Pennsylvania.  Recently, individuals have been found in Virginia, New York and Delaware.

The spotted lanternfly has been reported from over 70 species of plants, including the following:

• Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) (preferred host)
• Apple (Malus spp.)
• Plum, cherry, peach, apricot (Prunus spp.)
• Grape (Vitis spp.)
• Pine (Pinus spp.) 

Adults are 1 inch long and ½ inch wide at rest. The forewing is gray with black spots of varying sizes and the wing tips have black spots outlined in gray. Hind wings have contrasting patches of red and black with a white band. The legs and head are black, and the abdomen is yellow with black bands. Early immature stages are black with white spots. By the last immature stage they develop red patches in addition to the black color with white spots. This is the last immature stage before they mature into an adult.  Immature insect and adults are visually striking when the bright red of the hind wings is exposed.

Photo courtesy of Lawrence Beringer, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

Adult Spotted Lanternfly (bugwood.org)

Adults feed by puncturing the plant tissue to feed on sap.  The feeding damage can cause sap to run down the surface of the plant and encourages the growth of sooty mold which leaves dark streaks on the trunks of trees.

If you think you have seen or collected a Spotted Lanternfly please report it to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture and the Department of Entomology at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences by emailing slanternfly@njaes.rutgers.edu.

Additional Information

Spotted Lanterfly - New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station

Spotted Lanterfly - Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

Tree of Heaven - Invasive Exotic Plants of the Southeast - NC State University

Gardening questions? Call 609-265-5050