🏡 How to Protect Your Garden from Spotted Lanternflies in New Jersey

🌿 The Garden Threat You Can’t Ignore in 2025

In New Jersey, spotted lanternflies (SLFs) have spread rapidly through counties like Camden, Gloucester, Mercer, and Middlesex. While they’re known for attacking vineyards and trees, home gardens are increasingly vulnerable in 2025.

These invasive pests can:

• Suck sap from ornamental plants and shrubs

• Leave behind sticky honeydew, attracting ants and mold

• Cause leaf curl, wilting, and plant stress even in well-kept gardens

🌱 What SLFs Target in New Jersey Gardens

Common plants under threat:

• Rose bushes

• Butterfly bush (Buddleia)

• Grapevines

• Young maple and walnut saplings

• Sunflowers and milkweed

SLFs prefer smooth-barked stems and climbing plants—often the pride of home gardens.

✅ How to Protect Your Garden (2025 Protocol)

1. Inspect and Destroy Egg Masses

• Found on patio furniture, fences, trellises, tree trunks.

• Scrape grayish blobs into a container with rubbing alcohol.

• Focus on fall and winter inspections (Oct–April).

2. Use Vertical Traps on Nearby Trees

• Install sticky ring traps (like FOBA) on nearby trees—not directly on garden plants.

• Use mesh or foam guards to prevent bycatch (birds, bees, butterflies).

• Empty traps daily in hot weather.

3. Create a Garden Buffer Zone

• Remove or relocate Tree of Heaven or wild grapevine tangles nearby—these are SLF magnets.

• Avoid clustering highly susceptible plants near fences, which SLFs use as ladders.

4. Hose Down Adults with Soapy Water

• Use a simple sprayer: 1 tsp dish soap + 1 quart water.

• Focus on dawn and dusk when lanternflies are sluggish.

🧠 NJ Garden FAQ

Q: Can SLFs kill my garden plants?
A: Not usually—but repeated feeding weakens them, attracts disease, and ruins aesthetics.

Q: Should I use pesticides?
A: Avoid broad insecticides unless approved by Rutgers Extension. SLF-specific soaps and traps are safer for pollinators.

Q: What’s the best SLF trap for backyards?
A: A vertical FOBA-style trap on a nearby tree, with mesh guard, is ideal for garden-adjacent setups.

Q: Are SLFs active at night?
A: They’re most active during the day, especially in the heat of mid-morning and early afternoon.

📆 Seasonal Timing in New Jersey

If it’s August 2025, you’re in peak adult phase—the most important time to reduce their numbers before they lay eggs.

💡 Final Tip

Don’t just trap—interrupt the lifecycle.
The more adults and eggs you eliminate this summer, the fewer hatch next spring.

In NJ gardens, small daily actions = massive next-year impact.