[ad_1]
MENDHAM, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – It's almost time to get the perfect Christmas tree for you and your family, but worry about a new threat to this year's harvest.
With its wings covered with black and red spots and its bright yellow body, the speckled lantern could soon take a walk home with you from the farm.
So, should you worry about the bug buzzing and disrupting your vacation joy?
"To date, only one virus has been detected among the hundreds of thousands of trees that have entered homes in the last three years," said Chris Nicholson, owner of Hidden Pond Christmas Tree Farm.
Nicholson is vigilant and always looking for the parasite among more than 30,000 trees in Mendham, New Jersey.
"Christmas trees and conifers in general are not known to be a known host of this virus," he said.
The lantern, however, prefers to feast on fruit trees and vegetables, and is fought along the New Jersey border with Pennsylvania.
"It is harmless to humans and harmless to pets," Nicholson said. "It's just like having a spider in your tree."
The State Department of Agriculture also says that you can buy your Christmas tree with confidence this season. Even in Pennsylvania, where the fly has been observed for the first time and is widespread, growers have not found any egg masses on their trees this year.
Nevertheless, if you are caught off guard by the prospect of a guest house uninvited in your tree, you can look beyond the needles for oval-shaped eggs. You will see a group grouped together and covered with a waxy coating.
Nicholson suggests not wasting your time, but simply enjoying the tradition of hunting the perfect tree.
Source link
