‘Vampires’: Loudoun Co. vineyards ask volunteers to scrape away lanternfly eggs

Bill Hatch gets on his hands and knees to fight for his small business.

“There’s so many on this vine,” Hatch said.

Hatch is the owner of Zephaniah Farm Vineyards in Loudoun County, near Leesburg.

“They are, in essence, vampires,” he said.

His enemies are little, red, polka-dotted bugs D.C.-area residents love to squish — spotted lanternflies.

The lanternflies sink their teeth into plants and suck out nutrients that help Hatch’s wine grapes grow.

With thousands of egg pods clinging to his grape vines, the warm weather will soon trigger them to hatch. Then, they’ll reign terror on his vineyard.

That is, if they can hatch.

With a handy card that depicts a crossed-out lanternfly, Hatch scrapes away hundreds of egg pods to prevent the downfall of his business. Hatch is just one of many Loudoun County vineyard owners worried about the pesky bugs.

Beth Erickson of Visit Loudoun County says wine is the county’s top attraction, pulling in a million visitors every year.

“We were really taking a look to make sure that we understood the impact and the potential impact on what is an incredibly important part of Loudoun’s economy,” Erickson said.

If all the lantern fly eggs aren’t scraped away in time, they could eat through the county’s vineyard industry. To ensure that doesn’t happen, vineyard owners need help getting the job done.

“So, this was where we landed: Scrape for the Grape,” Erickson said.

Scrape for the Grape invites volunteers to help scrape away the pestering threat to Loudoun County’s countryside.

“At one location last year, 1 million egg sacks were removed by a group of volunteers in one day, in one three-hour period,” Mike Littman of the Loudoun Invasive Removal Alliance said.

The task can get messy, but Littman admires the sense of community the bug-busting event inspires.

“Oh boy, community involvement is everything,” he said.

The annual Scrape for the Grape event starts Saturday at 10 a.m. and resumes April 4 and April 12.

Souvenir scrapers, tee shirts and bandannas will be distributed. To register, visit the event site here.