More daylight and warmer days means spring is coming in Northeast Pennsylvania.
With spring comes bugs.
Some insects are good for the environment while others, like the spongy moth, eat away at Pennsylvania’s trees.
"It doesn't have a lot of natural predators yet here in America, and is essentially just taking our trees by storm," said Jessica Yoder, Pike County's Spongy Moth Task Force co-chair.
Pike County has funding available for property owners with at least 25 contiguous acres to spray for the moths, previously known as Gypsy moths. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) is also urging forest landowners and woodlot owners to plan now for spongy moth treatment.
For the past three years, spongy moth populations have reached outbreak levels, leading to widespread defoliation, according to DCNR.
"They're defoliating our oak trees, they're defoliating apples, Aspen, birches, willows, even get into pines and spruce trees, and we have a lot of that forest habitat here in Pike County," Yoder said.
The caterpillars feed on the leaves of more than 300 species of trees and shrubs in North America, eventually killing them, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Pennsylvania's aggressive spongy moth treatment programs in 2022, 2023 and 2024 have contributed to an overall decline in populations with some parts of the state experiencing population crashes, according to DCNR.
The agency plans to treat approximately 75,000 acres, primarily in Northeast and Central Pennsylvania; the state's game commission will treat approximately 38,000 acres.
A bug's life
Yoder said the invader was brought over from Asia to create an alternative to silk. Their appetite is hitting the county in the Poconos especially hard, she said.
The moths first hatch into tiny, black, fuzzy and unrecognizable caterpillars around April. The mature caterpillars stay fuzzy with blue and red spots, said Yoder. The invasive insects are most destructive in the larval phase when they’re munching away at trees.
"They climb up to the tree, they eat the leaves, continue to grow, metamorphosize into later instars and get bigger and bigger," she said. "They can do some pretty serious damage.”
Yoder says they have no natural predators and their main goal is to lay tan, fuzzy egg masses on outdoor surfaces. Each egg mass contains up to 1,000 eggs, according to the USDA.
By summer, they turn into moths. The males are brown with a darker brown pattern on their wings. The females — who can't fly — are nearly white and slightly larger. Their wings are marked with dark, saw-toothed patterns.
The bugs are not only destructive, they're annoying.
"The males are looking to find a partner and mate. So they're just up in everybody's faces, fluttering around in the prime summer, when people are outdoors trying to recreate in their backyards, sit, have a family picnic," Yoder said.
Moth suppression
There is a fungus in the soil that kills the moths. If the caterpillars are hanging upside down, they’re dead, Yoder said. The fungus has liquified their insides.
But last spring was very dry and warm, she said. The fungus did not thrive; it needs a cool, moist spring.
“It didn't have the chance to kind of combat them naturally," she said.
Yoder said it's important to spray for the insects before they grow up.
"Then you won't get to the adult moth stage, and therefore there are no eggs being laid," she said.
Pike County received a $400,000 grant from the state to combat the moths. The county has $250,000 left in a cost share program to help county residents.
There are four different categories to receive the funding, including homeowners associations or private landowners, hunt clubs and businesses, municipalities, or other organizations responsible for more than 25 acres.
The property owners have to use the biological insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis (BT), Yoder said, adding it causes minimal impact to the environment.
"This will not eradicate them, but it is hopefully to suppress about 80% of the caterpillars, so that we don't have the severe defoliation," she said.
Spraying begins in late April to mid-May. Landowners need to contract soon with a aerial sprayer licensed to work in Pennsylvania so the bacterial insecticide can be grown, she said.
"The outdoors is our playground, and we want to make sure that, you know, we have trees here for people to enjoy when they come," said Yoder.
Pike County’s funding for combating the infestation comes through a cost-share program. For more details, visit www.pikepa.org/health___safety/spongy_moth/
