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Spotted Lanternfly Education Pilot Program for Christmas Tree Growers in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland

The outcome of this project was to have the growers and their seasonal employees be able to properly identify all of the life stages and be confident in the identification of the spotted lanternfly. This is especially important if the grower is located in a quarantine area. A general knowledge of the insect will also be important when dealing with customers or the public in general who often ask questions when they come on the farm. These goals were met by providing an in person workshop on Sept 2021 hosted by Virginia Tech, Virginia Cooperative Extension and Va. Dept of Agriculture and Consumer Services in a VA quarantine area, by creating SLF education materials specifically for Christmas tree growers, and distributing these materials in a packet to all active Christmas tree growers in MD, VA and WV. Materials in this packet included: An introductory letter, A Virginia Cooperative Extension publication ENTO-402NP –Best Management Practices for Spotted Lanternfly on Christmas Tree Farms, a spotted lanternfly experts contacts directory, a spotted lanternfly checklist for growers, and an informative poster with insect id information that is to displayed as a reference for people working in the packing and checkout station of the farm. These resources will be used for future workshops and can be distributed to neighboring states as needed.