Delaware
Box Tree Moth Found at Private Residence in Kent County, Delaware – State of Delaware News
DOVER, Del. (July 15, 2024) — The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) has confirmed a find of box tree moth (BTM; Cydalima perspectalis) at a private residence in Kent County, Delaware.
The box tree moth is a federally regulated pest that primarily feeds on boxwood species (Buxus spp.). If left unchecked, it causes significant damage and can potentially kill the plants. Boxwoods are a popular ornamental evergreen shrub common to many landscape environments in the United States.
“Box tree moth is an unexpected find in Delaware due to the distance from the only known U.S. detections in New York, Michigan, Ohio, and Massachusetts, with the original introduction in New York in 2021. We are working closely with USDA and University of Delaware Extension to map out the infestations. Still, at this time, only one property in Kent County has a confirmed population and control measures have been implemented,” said Jessica Munski, Delaware Department of Agriculture’s Plant Industries Administrator. “This invasive pest is a good flyer, spreading naturally three to six miles a year, but it is suspected that they can fly up to 20 miles. The aggressive, destructive nature of the caterpillar life stage makes it essential to take quick action as soon as damage is detected because defoliation can occur within ten days.”
The caterpillars, which can grow to 1.5 inches, will start out as lime-green, with black stripes, white spots, hair, and a shiny black head. They then create a large amount of webbing on the plant. The caterpillars are ravenous feeders and, in heavy infestations, can completely defoliate host plants. After the leaves are gone, they feed on the bark, eventually killing the plant.
USDA photo by Hannah Nadel
The adult box tree moth generally has white wings with a thick brown border. It can be hard to find as it is most active at night. The BTM can sometimes be confused with the melonworm moth.
What You Can Do
Delawareans can help prevent this invasive pest from spreading throughout the state’s landscape, by monitoring, reporting, and controlling infestations.
- If you have boxwoods in your landscape, monitor your shrubs for brown or skeletonized leaves, defoliation, and webbing with caterpillars.
- Contact Delaware Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners at the Garden Helpline to report a suspected find and learn what pest management tools are available:
- New Castle County: 302-831-8862
- Kent County: 302-730-4000
- Sussex County: 302-831-3389
- Allow Delaware or Federal agricultural officials to inspect your boxwood plants and place detection traps.
- Remove infested boxwood plant branches. For heavy infestations, cut the boxwood from its base. Your plant should grow back from its roots. All boxwood debris should be double-bagged in plastic and placed in the trash. Homeowners should follow the Delaware Cooperative Extension’s pesticide recommendations.
- Nursery owners should monitor their boxwoods and implement safeguards to limit pest risk. All nursery businesses should report box tree moth detections to the Delaware Department of Agriculture at DDA_PlantPests@delaware.gov.
Learn more about the box tree moth at https://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-pests-diseases/box-tree-moth.
###
Related Topics: box tree moth, boxwood, caterpillar, invasive, Kent County, pest, USDA
Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.
Here you can subscribe to future news updates.
DOVER, Del. (July 15, 2024) — The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) has confirmed a find of box tree moth (BTM; Cydalima perspectalis) at a private residence in Kent County, Delaware.
The box tree moth is a federally regulated pest that primarily feeds on boxwood species (Buxus spp.). If left unchecked, it causes significant damage and can potentially kill the plants. Boxwoods are a popular ornamental evergreen shrub common to many landscape environments in the United States.
“Box tree moth is an unexpected find in Delaware due to the distance from the only known U.S. detections in New York, Michigan, Ohio, and Massachusetts, with the original introduction in New York in 2021. We are working closely with USDA and University of Delaware Extension to map out the infestations. Still, at this time, only one property in Kent County has a confirmed population and control measures have been implemented,” said Jessica Munski, Delaware Department of Agriculture’s Plant Industries Administrator. “This invasive pest is a good flyer, spreading naturally three to six miles a year, but it is suspected that they can fly up to 20 miles. The aggressive, destructive nature of the caterpillar life stage makes it essential to take quick action as soon as damage is detected because defoliation can occur within ten days.”
The caterpillars, which can grow to 1.5 inches, will start out as lime-green, with black stripes, white spots, hair, and a shiny black head. They then create a large amount of webbing on the plant. The caterpillars are ravenous feeders and, in heavy infestations, can completely defoliate host plants. After the leaves are gone, they feed on the bark, eventually killing the plant.
USDA photo by Hannah Nadel
The adult box tree moth generally has white wings with a thick brown border. It can be hard to find as it is most active at night. The BTM can sometimes be confused with the melonworm moth.
What You Can Do
Delawareans can help prevent this invasive pest from spreading throughout the state’s landscape, by monitoring, reporting, and controlling infestations.
- If you have boxwoods in your landscape, monitor your shrubs for brown or skeletonized leaves, defoliation, and webbing with caterpillars.
- Contact Delaware Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners at the Garden Helpline to report a suspected find and learn what pest management tools are available:
- New Castle County: 302-831-8862
- Kent County: 302-730-4000
- Sussex County: 302-831-3389
- Allow Delaware or Federal agricultural officials to inspect your boxwood plants and place detection traps.
- Remove infested boxwood plant branches. For heavy infestations, cut the boxwood from its base. Your plant should grow back from its roots. All boxwood debris should be double-bagged in plastic and placed in the trash. Homeowners should follow the Delaware Cooperative Extension’s pesticide recommendations.
- Nursery owners should monitor their boxwoods and implement safeguards to limit pest risk. All nursery businesses should report box tree moth detections to the Delaware Department of Agriculture at DDA_PlantPests@delaware.gov.
Learn more about the box tree moth at https://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-pests-diseases/box-tree-moth.
###
Related Topics: box tree moth, boxwood, caterpillar, invasive, Kent County, pest, USDA
Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.
Here you can subscribe to future news updates.
Is a data center coming to Delaware City?
A large data center project is in the approval process in New Castle County. County Council is deciding how to regulate them.
New Castle County Council approved regulations on the development of data centers Tuesday night.
They won’t apply to the massive proposed data center complex of Project Washington, which continues to fight through state-level objections.
The County Council meeting was standing room only. The crowd of both construction workers supporting the legislation and community members opposing it spread into the lobby of the Louis Redding City/County Building.
The ordinance requires data centers to have a closed-loop water cooling system to limit its water use and creates a 1,000-foot buffer between data centers and residential areas, with an exception for 500-foot buffers if a development can follow noise regulations. It also defaults to existing county limits on noise and lighting levels.
A unanimously approved amendment from Pike Creek representative Timothy Sheldon clarified that these new regulations count for applications submitted after this gets adopted and approved by County Executive Marcus Henry, unless an existing applicant requests to follow these new regulations.
It passed with 12 ‘yes’ votes, with Councilmember Jea P. Street absent from the vote itself.
This was the only amendment left standing. An amendment from Janet Kilpatrick, representing Hockessin, would have grandfathered existing data centers from the ordinance, clarifying that any pending proposal in the county wouldn’t be affected. Another amendment, from Claymont representative John Cartier, would’ve made the ordinance retroactive to count for Project Washington and others. Both were withdrawn at the meeting in a council compromise.
Project Washington’s plans north of Delaware City kicked local data center dialogue into high gear in 2025. The data center project would include 11 two-story data center buildings surrounded by electrical fields on two large land parcels accessible by Hamburg Road, Governor Lea Road and River Road.
It would be 6 million square feet of data center running 24 hours a day, seven days week.
The project’s developer, Starwood Digital Ventures, pledges job creation and and a colossal injection of tax revenue into the coffers of the county and Colonial School District. They said this will bring about 3,500 construction jobs and retain 700 permanent jobs to keep the facility up and running.
County Council member Dave Carter has spent months drafting the regulations that were voted on during this meeting. This is substitute number three on the original bill from August 2025, including compromises on noise and lighting restrictions. Carter wants sensible data center regulation in the county, and he told Delaware Online/The News Journal in March he thinks Project Washington is a “bad deal” for the state.
He thinks the potential demand on the state’s already strained electrical bid will hurt residents’ bills. He also disputes the developers’ promises on permanent jobs and tax revenue.
“We just have to really be cognizant and thoughtful and make sure that we are ensuring that we protect our communities, and that we manage these things well if they are coming,” Carter said at the meeting.
It hasn’t been an easy sell to the rest of County Council. Council member Janet Kilpatrick, who represents Hockessin, wanted consistent regulations on lighting and noise levels to avoid scaring off potential business. Data centers have sprung up across the country as the highly demanding AI industry exploded in popularity.
“If we don’t have some stability, these people are not going to be able to go through a lender to get money, and so that means that they leave, and I’m sure that there’s a group of people in this room that would love to see them leave, but that’s not how we build economic development,” she said at the meeting. “Part of what we need, in my mind, in economic development is that we have a stable land use code.”
Although this doesn’t apply to the controversial Project Washington, County Council will still have a say on the re-zoning of half of the project’s land. The County Board of Adjustment will also have to approve its electrical switch station, Culver said.
At the meeting, residents showed up with mainly negative comments for Project Washington. But, members of trade unions showed up in support of the project’s potential to create construction jobs.
Starwood Digital Ventures will continue to move through the approval process with no changes to Project Washington, according to Jim Lamb, who is handling media for the project.
“We’re really happy there’s a consensus within the council and it’s a really great opportunity for the residents of New Castle County,” Lamb said Tuesday night.
Now this goes to County Executive Marcus Henry’s office, who can sign or veto these regulations.
Half of Project Washington’s proposed land still needs a re-zone, which requires council approval. The project was stifled by DNREC, who ruled the proposal’s size, use and backup diesel generators violate the decades-old Coastal Zone Act.
Starwood Digital Ventures disagrees, and filed and appeal, saying the state environmental agency didn’t classify the project correctly and said it “solely focuses on alleged environmental risk and worst-case emissions, and does not fairly weigh or explain these countervailing factors in light of regulating criteria.”
The appeal’s hearing is in Dover and begins on March 24.
Shane Brennan covers Wilmington and other Delaware issues. Reach out with ideas, tips or feedback at slbrennan@delawareonline.com.
The U.S. Coast Guard and multiple partner agencies are responding to a barge fire in Delaware Bay on Tuesday after a tug reported that the vessel it was towing had caught fire.
According to the Coast Guard, watchstanders at Sector Delaware Bay received a call at approximately 8:20 a.m. from the tug Douglas J, reporting that the barge under tow was on fire. The barge was reportedly carrying scrap metal.
Authorities are towing the burning barge to a position about two miles off Maurice River Cove, New Jersey, in an effort to move the incident away from the main shipping channel while firefighting operations continue.
The Coast Guard has established a safety zone and issued a Broadcast Notice to Mariners as crews work to contain the fire and reduce potential hazards to vessel traffic in the busy port complex. Multiple fire departments have deployed fireboats to assist with suppression efforts.
No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Responders from Coast Guard Station Philadelphia, Coast Guard Station Cape May, and Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City have been deployed to assist. Partner agencies on scene include the Wilmington Fire Department, Delaware City Fire Department, Philadelphia Fire Department, New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, and Delaware Emergency Management.
The incident follows another major barge fire in the Delaware Bay region in 2022, when a barge carrying scrap household appliances burned for approximately 26 hours in what officials described as the largest firefighting operation in Delaware state history.
Response operations for the current fire remain ongoing.
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Tuesday, March 10, 2026 9:34AM
MINQUADALE, Del. (WPVI) — The DMV in Wilmington, Delaware is reopening at 8a.m. Tuesday.
This comes after the deadly shooting of State Trooper Matthew “Ty” Snook, 34, in December 2025.
A man walked into the facility and shot and killed Snook.
The DMV said service at the Wilmington location will be by appointment only for now. The Delaware City, Dover, and Georgetown DMV locations will continue to offer walk-in service to customers.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
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