Spraying and searching for spotted lanternflies has become a daily job for Evan Dackow, of Jolly Green Landscaping.

The invasive insect is plaguing Long Island and other counties across New York state.

“We’re doing monthly treatments to drop the numbers,” Dackow said.

According to Chris Logue, the director of the Division of Plant Industry at the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, the state is seeing a surge in reports further east into Suffolk and Nassau counties, as well as in Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley.

The state Department of Agriculture and experts from Cornell University recently hosted a joint webinar to share their latest findings.

While the insect is known to damage trees and crops in other regions, Logue said they haven't had reports of any crop damage in New York.

Still, researchers are studying ways to reduce their population and determine what attracts them locally.

As the pests mature, they are drawn to fruit trees, grapevines and the Tree of Heaven, Dackow explained.

One sign they’ve been on a tree is a black sooty mold that grows after they’re gone - a fungus that forms on their waste.

There may be some natural help in controlling their numbers. Dackow noted that bats and birds have begun eating the spotted lanternflies.

“We will have them for a long time,” he said, “but they won’t be the infestation levels that we have seen.”