Tomorrow will be a bad day for invasive spotted lanternflies. At least that is the hope of a new coalition launching the Scrape for the Grape initiative.

The community-wide campaign is aimed at protecting the county’s vineyards and other crops from the invasive insect.

Visit Loudoun is working with the Loudoun Invasive Remove Alliance, Cooperative Extension Service, and the Loudoun Wineries & Winegrowers Association to encourage residents to join in finding and destroying spotted lanternfly egg masses.

The team is looking to equip residents with credit card size scrapers and turn them loose across the county to search out and destroy the eggs.

The volunteers also will be asked to tag the location of Tree of Heaven plants, another invasive species that is a favorite of the lantern fly, for later removal.

“One of the key parts of this is it has low impact and it's also a way to engage these HOAs throughout all of Loudoun County,” Erikson said. “We think it's going to be a really good and important project.”

The insects are a significant threat to the county’s rural economy, particularly grapevines, fruit trees and ornamental trees. With more than 850 acres under vine producing 2,300 tons of grapes annually in Loudoun, lanternflies can have a devastating impact.

During the event, planned from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 6, more than volunteers—including county Supervisors Laura TaKrony and Sylvia Glass— will be deployed from 14 sites around Loudoun to locations identified by Virginia Cooperative Extension to scrape the egg masses. 

As an appreciation, several Loudoun wineries will be offering special discounts to anyone who brings in their bandana or scraping card. 

Learn more and register to participate at Loudouninvasives.com.