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MOUNTAIN PINE BEETLES (DLDs*)
By Nancy Tamura
They are lurking
in a pine tree near you. Mountain pine beetles are small (1/4 inch long)
members of the bark beetle family and they bore into our Ponderosas in
midsummer to early autumn. To kill them and prevent them from swarming to
new trees, a thorough search of your property is in order. You can check
for infestations from now through the next few months (before the middle of
June) and take steps to rid your property of any affected trees.
The best way to
identify beetle presence is to walk around your property and look at your
trees. When the beetles bore into the bark, the trees emit pitch in
popcorn-size balls. If the tree is successful in repelling the beetle
attack, the pitch will be cream-colored—the beetles actually drown in the
pitch and die. However, if the beetles have been successful, the pitch will
be a reddish color because it will have bark mixed in with it.
Additionally, you may see reddish boring dust in the cracks of the bark and
at the base of the tree. Also, at this time of year, the tree may be
turning a light green, and you may notice woodpeckers routinely feeding at
the tree. If you suspect there are beetles, you should take an ax and
remove a large piece of bark off the tree (about 10 inches by 6 inches).
Beetle activity will be immediately apparent when you remove this bark
because you will see the characteristic tunnel structure, and may see the
beetles in some stage of their life cycles. In any event, do not wait until
the tree turns brown because that takes several months and the tree will not
completely die until long after the beetles have swarmed to new trees to
begin their destructive cycle.
WHAT TO DO?
It’s important for
you to know that you cannot save a tree, which has pine beetles—you can only
take an appropriate measure to kill the beetles within the tree and prevent
them from leaving it. To accomplish this, you must cut the tree down, and
do one of the following:
*Solar treat with
plastic
*Debark completely
*Burn infested wood
*Remove tree from
area
You can do your own
research on eradication, or a tree service can help you.
PREVENTION?
It is not possible to
protect all of your trees from infestation. However, you may choose to have
a tree service annually spray selected trees with a chemical called Sevin (Carbaryl).
If you would
like further information about the pine beetles, please notify me and I will
forward a copy of an article originally written for the Pine Brook Press
three years ago.
*Destructive Little
Devils
From The Pine
Brook Press, Autumn, ‘01
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