SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
The spotted lanternfly has descended on fruit orchards and maple trees and much of the mid-Atlantic region. It's an invasive species that can overtake and kill grapevines. So one vineyard in Virginia is arming its patrons to help swat them out. Randi B. Hagi, with member station WMRA, paid a visit.
RANDI B HAGI, BYLINE: Wolf Gap Vineyard and Winery is tucked into the rolling hills of Shenandoah County, Virginia. While other parts of the region have been swarmed by spotted lanternflies for a few years, owner Janel Laravie said they were spared until this September when they were harvesting Chambourcin grapes.
(SOUNDBITE OF CRICKETS)
JANEL LARAVIE: I saw two that day. That was the start.
HAGI: Now every single plant in the vineyard has lanternflies crawling on it. The inch-long adults have grayish forewings with black dots which hide bright-red hindwings underneath. They're native to parts of Asia and were first found in the U.S. in Pennsylvania in 2014. Laravie finds a cluster of the insects on one vine.
LARAVIE: They're breeding, and they're going to lay eggs. This is my Cabernet Sauvignon. This is my favorite product, and so it's scary.
HAGI: She carries an electric flyswatter.
LARAVIE: Look low.
(SOUNDBITE OF FLYSWATTER CRACKLING)
HAGI: It looks like a small, plastic tennis racket. The lanternflies are easy to zap because they can't fly far and they can only hop forward. Laravie approaches them from above.
LARAVIE: Left untreated, without action, they could actually kill the vines. And when you look at this, even after a frost event last night, right here - one, two, three, four, five, six. So there's so many in here.
(SOUNDBITE OF FLYSWATTER ZAPPING)
HAGI: To get more people zapping lanternflies, the winery is holding a contest - a crusade, really. Patrons are invited to take an electric flyswatter and patrol the vines as they stroll around with a glass. Whoever has the highest tally at the end of the month gets $100 cash.
(SOUNDBITE OF FLYSWATTER ZAPPING)
HAGI: Brenda Bladen (ph) is a regular here. She likes the dry wines.
BRENDA BLADEN: My favorite red is Petit Verdot, and my favorite white is Chardonnay, 2022.
HAGI: She's also killed a lot of lanternflies on her visits, more than 1,500 so far. She holds the current high score.
BLADEN: One thing, I want to protect the vines - I love Wolf Gap Winery - and that they're very invasive. When I heard that they were doing this, I thought, I got to go help because they'll just take over.
HAGI: Drew Harner teaches viticulture, or the science of grape cultivation, at Virginia Tech. He started getting reports from Virginia winegrowers in early August about high numbers of spotted lanternflies.
DREW HARNER: We had wetter, more humid conditions earlier in the season, which then resulted in the populations, you know, that we're seeing now in vineyards.
HAGI: He says the most effective management strategy currently is to apply pesticides on the edges of vineyards, where lanternflies often congregate. Most vineyards try to avoid using many pesticides. There's also research showing some bats will eat the insect. So Laravie plans to install bat boxes on the edge of her vineyard. Until then...
(SOUNDBITE OF FLYSWATTER ZAPPING)
LARAVIE: Two down, 2 million to go.
HAGI: Wolf Gap's wine lovers will be taking them out one sip and smash at a time. For NPR News, I'm Randi B. Hagi in Edinburg, Virginia. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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