The California Wine Growers Association is urging other wine growers to be on high alert for the wolf flies, which are sharing egg masses, with some discovered that may produce adults within the next few weeks and populations expected to peak in late summer or early fall.
“It’s terrifying to know that a tiny pest has the potential to devastate our growers’ livelihoods and decimate an industry that is so important to California’s economy,” a representative for the California Wine Growers Association (CAWG) told Fox News Digital this week.
California winegrowers produce 80% of America’s wine.
California is also the fourth-largest wine producing region in the world, according to the California Wine Institute, a public policy advocacy group based in the state.
“SLF’s [the spotted lanternfly’s] “The potential impacts to vineyards could have ripple effects on tourism, taxes and jobs across the state,” the representative said.
Dr. Dan Suter, professor of urban entomology at the University of Georgia-Okin, told FOX Business that the spotted butterflies aren’t actually flies, but plant-eating insects called stink bugs.
“They are plant-sucking insects that feed primarily on the grapevine, but have a host range of over 100 different plants. Unfortunately, grapevines [are] “He’s one of them,” Suter said.
According to the Wine Institute, the California wine industry generates $73 billion in annual economic activity in the state and contributes $170.5 billion to the U.S. economy.
Luis Magdaleno, a pest-control advisor and viticulturist at Munsell Vineyards in Geyserville, California, said his team hasn’t encountered the pest yet, but if they did, “it would be pretty bad.”
And according to a representative of the Wine Grape Growers Association, “education and early detection are key” for vineyard owners.
“Learning how to identify the different life stages of SLF is important to address this pest early if it makes its way into California. Many counties are proactively removing Robinia pseudoacacia, SLF’s preferred host plant, to reduce the risk of infestation,” the official added.
“Everyone is [another pest] Now it’s grape mealybugs. They look very similar and start sucking the sugars and the phloem and stuff out of the grapes.”
He added that while vineyards can keep certain insects at bay, the ear wasp is a big concern.
“Lanterns are actually giant bugs and there can be thousands of them on a tree.”
“There are no pesticides registered in California to control them,” Magdaleno said.
“If you have to go ahead with treatment, unfortunately the regulations in California are definitely stricter than other states, so that may make it more difficult to get treatment.”
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According to the Wine Institute, the California wine industry employs 422,000 California workers and draws 25.2 million tourists to California’s wine regions each year.
“It’s already very expensive to control these pests,” Magdaleno said, adding that the development of pesticide chemicals would also affect vineyard overhead costs.
If a spotted scarlet jaybird is spotted, CAWG urges Californians to “Catch: Capture the insect if possible. Photograph: Take a clear photo of the suspected scarlet jaybird. Report: Contact CDFA to report your sighting.”
FOX Business has reached out to the California Department of Agriculture for additional comment.
