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'Scrape the Grape': Northern Virginia wineries work to remove invasive lanternflies
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LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. - Wineries in northern Virginia are turning to volunteers to help stop invasive lantern flies from destroying their vineyards.
In Loudoun County, they're calling the effort "Scrape for the Grape."
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Volunteers would start their day at a vineyard in Loudoun County, including Zephaniah Farm Vineyard, get a plastic card and then head out to the vineyard to scrape for the grape — literally.
They're removing countless lantern fly eggs before they hatch and wreak havoc.
"We started last weekend. We had about 40 volunteers out here looking for egg masses. These members of the community just want they want to enjoy the outdoors on a wonderful spring day, and it was a beautiful spring day, and we scraped over 3000 egg masses that day containing a lot of eggs. I mean, I can't add that but anywhere from 30 to 60 eggs in an egg mass and they're going to hatch and come out and beat these lantern flies — destructive lantern flies — unless we can try to wipe them out," said Bill Hatch, the owner of Zephaniah Farm Vineyard in Leesburg.
Hatch says he's thankful for the community's help and support in scraping lantern fly eggs from his vineyards.
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"Scrape for the Grape" organizers describe spotted lantern flies as sapsuckers that feed on grapevines. The program is a partnership between vineyards across Loudoun County and the county's tourism arm, Visit Loudoun.
Several groups are also part of the initiative, including the Loudoun Invasive Removal Alliance.
Hatch says the lantern fly debacle first began nine years ago and has intensified.
The Scrape for the Grape program started in 2024 as the invasive species impacted vineyards across the DMV. There are more than 50 vineyards in Loudoun alone and volunteers go to vineyard locations across the county from late March to early April, scraping lantern fly eggs.
"When you look at fifty million dollars in revenue per year and that was 2024, I'm not sure what it was in twenty twenty five, but I'm sure it's grown from there. Um, you can see how important that is. So the spotted lanternfly is really doing damage to the, to that, that, uh, side of our economy. And that's one of the reasons we wanted to create this event and help," said Tom Kercheval, Executive Director of Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy.
More than 1,000 Scrape for the Grape volunteers will be at 21 locations including 17 vineyards in Loudoun County.
Last Saturday alone, more than 3 million lantern fly eggs were eliminated.