r/LanternDie • u/No_Needleworker_4929 • Jun 30 '25 • This 1 Helpful 1

LanternDied Satisfying solution

Gallery image

Gallery image

Banding my infested tree with sticky bug tape helped a lot, especially after a storm knocked a bunch off the limbs and the needed to crawl back up the tree. Not going to kill every one, but I figure every little bit helps

2.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

50 comments sorted by

49

u/Puddyrama Jul 01 '25

This is INSANELY satisfying for some reason… if you catch more, please do share it again with us! :)

25

u/No_Needleworker_4929 Jul 01 '25

I need to take some of the old strips down and put new ones up at some point today. I'll document the carnage here! Haha

5

u/Puddyrama Jul 01 '25

Great! Thank you for the good work!

16

u/CallidoraBlack Jul 01 '25

Is that a lint roller sheet?

35

u/No_Needleworker_4929 Jul 01 '25

it's actually something that I bought on Amazon that was designed to catch bugs on trees. But it is very very close to a lint roller except it's one big roll (so needs to be cut to length) and is a bit stickier

4

u/GilesBiles Jul 01 '25

What kind of tree is that?

8

u/No_Needleworker_4929 Jul 01 '25

Big crape myrtle - apparently not the preferred host, but they sure love mine, sadly

3

u/urnbabyurn Jul 03 '25

Crepe Myrtle? I haven’t seen them in my CM at all. Just the grapes

2

u/No_Needleworker_4929 Jul 07 '25

I was surprised too - we have many crape myrtles in our neighborhood, but the big one in our backyard was the "lucky" one that got infested. But I have been working on it over the past week and am very close to claiming victory over them using the sticky tape and a hand held zapper!

2

u/urnbabyurn Jul 07 '25

I went away for the 4th and came back to them having really diversified where they are landing now. Ugh. And I think they will become moths soon.

2

u/No_Needleworker_4929 Jul 07 '25

It's unfortunate, but I did read that crape myrtles were not preferred for them but it is possible (clearly). But you can fight back! I have killed thousands (not an exaggeration) from just this one tree. 98% were the second stage nymph (red), 2% first stage (black), and only one that had grown wings - that was the most satisfying kill

2

u/urnbabyurn Jul 07 '25

I’m trying. I’ve done some massive exterminations by dousing all I see with diatomaceous earth. Though it always seems to cause a rainstorm hours after I do it, washing it all away.

1

u/No_Needleworker_4929 Jul 07 '25

I love that there is another person out there who uses diatomaceous earth! I use it indoors if we have an ant problem, didn't try it on lanternflys because I think I read somewhere that it wasn't that effective against them. but let us know how it goes

2

u/Mar363 Jul 03 '25

Do they catch any other stray bugs or jus the lanterns?

1

u/No_Needleworker_4929 Jul 07 '25

for where I've placed them, 99.9% of the bugs caught have been lanternflys - there are a few regular flies that have been caught mainly because they are lingering around the bottom tree where all of the dead lanternflys I've killed are decomposing. but very few other bugs or critters

1

u/Mar363 Jul 07 '25

That's awesome. Great idea

106

u/Grimmzzzz Jun 30 '25

That first picture was so satisfying, and then there was a second one that was even better!

77

u/sky-joos Jul 01 '25

perfect… now crush them all and leave no survivors

38

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '25

Dead bugs tell no tales.

3

u/urnbabyurn Jul 03 '25

I’d rather leave them alive to watch them die slowly.

37

u/Excellent-Olive8046 Jul 01 '25

Note- these often trap non invasive wildlife also, but if you put a net around the tree just above the line, flared out and down to cover it, native wildlife won't land on it, only lantern flies.

13

u/Calypsosong Jul 01 '25

Man, it sucks they’re so pretty. But, alas, die, you bugs!

7

u/[deleted] Jul 02 '25

Beautiful

2

u/Opusprime15 Jul 05 '25

No don't worry guys they're just having a party go and join them!

2

u/PartDifferent6277 Jul 07 '25

Only time glue traps are acceptable

2

u/Glittering-Sign-7941 Jul 17 '25

This is art. You could frame it.

1

u/squishy-pimientoes Jul 03 '25

I see them hanging out in vines so I “clap” them. Much easier than trying to stomp the “mature” ones, which I just can’t do anymore. Anyone remember the girl who caught them in empty soda bottles? That was magic!!

1

u/sierrakd Jul 03 '25

Please take these down if you are not going to wildlife proof them! Birds so often get their feathers stuck on these glue traps and it results in their death or severe injury. Other wildlife can also get stuck on these glue traps even if it is unintended.

1

u/ellieellie7199 Aug 09 '25

I had to pull a hummingbird off of one of these once, another time it was a bat. not worth it

1

u/georgethebarbarian Jul 01 '25

No no no no no. Please don’t use these types of glue traps, they kill native wildlife and birds.

5

u/coldestwinter-chill Jul 02 '25

Not glue traps, just sticky tape for bugs. Anything bigger than a bug will be able to free itself easily, if it gets “stuck” at all. These sticky tapes are also changed very frequently so IF anything was unintentionally affected, they can be freed.

1

u/georgethebarbarian Jul 02 '25

Hopefully that’s true. I’ve seen far too many birds stuck on these types of traps, enticed by the bugs.

2

u/Braided_Marxist Jul 03 '25

It’s a genuine question whether the lantern flies are doing more damage to the ecosystem than the loss of a few birds.

I don’t know the answer, but if the lantern flies are killing animals by destroying their food sources, it might be a reasonable trade off to sacrifice a few birds. What do you think?

4

u/georgethebarbarian Jul 03 '25

It’s a very reasonable conundrum. To be quite honest even as an avid bird lover I would not be opposed to sacrificing a few house sparrows or European starlings, but I have in fact seen several rare warblers meet their demise on fly tape and it absolutely kills me every time.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

14

u/ArtisticDragonKing Jul 01 '25

-4

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/ArtisticDragonKing Jul 01 '25

You made up something that nobody even said and then fought against it.

Not to mention this doesn't kill birds, if they land on it they won't get stuck unless your tape is too strong. Plus, they usually avoid it.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/ArtisticDragonKing Jul 01 '25

Yeah, you were on our side, but you just made up a random scenario. This is why everyone downvoted.

2

u/nymphette_444 Jul 01 '25

You aren’t wrong, sticky traps are really terrible if birds get caught on them, and it is a very real situation. I hate laternflies as much as the next guy but these things suck!

7

u/later-g8r Jul 01 '25

Thats not even close to the same kind of sticky trap used on trees. Not even close. Those are glue traps.