Spotted lanternfly is established in North Carolina, with confirmed populations in Forsyth, Guilford, Rockingham, and Caldwell counties. The invasive pest was first detected in the state in June 2022 near Kernersville in Forsyth County, and newer populations were found in Reidsville and Lenoir in spring 2025. If you live outside these areas, state officials want you to report any sightings. If you live in the known infestation zones, your focus should be on management.
Where It’s Been Found in North Carolina
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced the state’s first established population on June 29, 2022, in Kernersville, a suburb of Winston-Salem in Forsyth County near the Guilford County border. Initial surveys at the time indicated the infestation covered a 5-mile radius, suggesting the insects had likely been present for a couple of years before anyone reported them.
Since then, the infestation has spread across western Guilford County and eastern Forsyth County to the point that the area is considered “generally infested.” Davidson County is also listed as established. In spring 2025, two additional populations were confirmed: one in Reidsville (Rockingham County) and one in Lenoir (Caldwell County). These remain the only known populations in the state, but the pest’s history in the eastern U.S. suggests further spread is likely. It was first detected in Pennsylvania in 2014 and has since been found in more than a dozen states. A late 2021 infestation near the Virginia border signaled that North Carolina’s turn was coming.
How to Identify Spotted Lanternfly
Spotted lanternfly looks different at every stage of its life, which makes identification tricky if you don’t know what to expect. There’s one generation per year. Adults die in winter, eggs overwinter on hard surfaces, and nymphs hatch in spring.
Egg masses are about one inch long and laid on trees, stones, patio furniture, vehicles, and almost any hard outdoor surface. Fresh egg masses look like smears of white putty. Over time they crack and turn brownish, resembling dried mud. Once the covering wears away, you can see individual seed-like eggs underneath. These are present from fall through early spring.
Early nymphs (spring through early summer) are tiny, just a few millimeters long at first, growing to about a quarter inch. They’re black with bright white spots. Late-stage nymphs appear before the adults and are about half an inch long, bright red with black stripes and white spots. They’re distinctive and hard to confuse with other insects at this stage.
Adults are about one inch long with gray wings covered in black spots. The hindwings flash red, black, and white when the insect flies or is startled. Females tend to be slightly larger than males. Adults are most visible from July through November.
Why It Matters for North Carolina
Spotted lanternfly feeds on more than 70 plant species, using a piercing mouthpart to tap into plant sap. Its preferred host is tree-of-heaven, an invasive tree already widespread across the state. But the insect also attacks grapevines, fruit trees, hardwoods, and ornamental plants. It doesn’t eat leaves. Instead, it drains sap and excretes a sugary waste called honeydew that coats surfaces beneath infested trees and promotes the growth of sooty mold.
For North Carolina’s wine grape industry, nursery operations, and hardwood forests, the pest poses a real economic threat. Grapevines are particularly vulnerable. Heavy feeding weakens vines, reduces fruit quality, and can kill plants over successive seasons. Nurseries face additional complications because shipping plant material out of quarantine zones requires inspections and compliance protocols.
What to Do if You See One
Your response depends on where you are. If you live in western Guilford County or eastern Forsyth County, you do not need to report sightings. The area is already known to be generally infested, and state resources are focused on treating commercially and publicly owned properties with a high risk of spreading the pest.
If you spot a lanternfly anywhere else in North Carolina, report it to the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Take clear photos if you can, capturing the insect or egg mass along with the surface it’s on. Killing individual insects on sight is encouraged, but a photo first helps officials track the spread.
Managing Spotted Lanternfly on Your Property
For homeowners in or near infested areas, the most effective approach combines physical removal with targeted trapping. From October through March, inspect trees, outdoor furniture, vehicles, and structures for egg masses. Scrape them off with a plastic card or putty knife and drop them into a bag or container of rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer to destroy them. Each egg mass contains 30 to 50 eggs, so removing even a few makes a measurable difference.
Sticky bands wrapped around tree trunks catch nymphs as they crawl upward to feed. Place these in April before eggs hatch. If you use sticky bands, consider adding a wire cage around them to prevent birds and small animals from getting stuck. Visual inspections of tree trunks, especially tree-of-heaven, are useful throughout the growing season.
Chemical treatments are available but are generally more relevant for commercial growers and nursery operations. Homeowners with severe infestations on high-value trees or grapevines can look into systemic soil treatments or foliar sprays labeled for ornamental use. Soybean oil applied directly to egg masses is another option that avoids broad insecticide use. For tree-of-heaven specifically, some products are labeled for basal bark application, which treats the tree’s trunk to poison lanternflies that feed on it.
Quarantine Rules for Moving Items
If you live in a quarantine zone, you have responsibilities when moving items out of the area. Spotted lanternflies and their egg masses hitchhike on vehicles, trailers, firewood, construction materials, outdoor furniture, and equipment. Before moving anything out of a quarantine zone, inspect it thoroughly. Check around windshield wipers, grills, roof racks, wheel wells, truck beds, and any outdoor surface where egg masses could be hiding.
For individuals, a compliance checklist serves as a legal document showing you’ve inspected your belongings and removed any life stages of the insect. You print it, complete it, sign it, and keep it with you during transport. Businesses face stricter requirements: any company operating within a quarantine zone that moves products, vehicles, or equipment must hold a spotted lanternfly permit. Managers or supervisors complete a permit training course, then become responsible for training all employees on identification and safeguarding procedures.
Tree-of-Heaven and Its Role
Tree-of-heaven is the spotted lanternfly’s most important host plant and a major reason the pest thrives once it arrives in an area. The tree itself is invasive, originally from China, and grows aggressively along roadsides, forest edges, and disturbed land throughout North Carolina. It produces dense clusters of winged seeds and can sprout from root fragments, making it difficult to remove permanently.
If you have tree-of-heaven on your property in an infested area, removing most of them while leaving a few as “trap trees” is a strategy used by some landowners and extension programs. The remaining trees concentrate lanternfly feeding in a predictable location where they can be treated or trapped more effectively. Cutting tree-of-heaven without treating the stump causes aggressive resprouting, so any removal effort should include stump treatment to prevent regrowth.