Beautiful, large pine may be in trouble

[Gruzalski]

I live in East Tennessee (near Knoxville), and I have a large pine tree that may be in trouble. There are two troubling signs.

1. First, there is an area that seems rotted and discolored. I don't know the extent of the rotting (maybe the size of a couple of gallons or less), but material appears to have oozed out of the rotted area.
2. Second, there is evidence of pine beetles (or something similar).

At the following URL, you can download a jpg file that shows pictures of the pine tree (Fig 1), the rotted area (Fig 2), and the ‘pine beetle evidence’ I referred to. The file is about 4.4 MB in size.

http://www.ornl.gov/~grg/pine_tree_a.jpg​

As you can see, this is a beautiful tree, and I really do not want to lose it. I would appreciate any advice anyone may have regarding how to save it.

Thank you.

Greg

 

[tomtrees58]

time for tree removal tom trees

 

[S Mc]

Greg, welcome to the site. There are over 600 species of beetles lumped into the "bark beetle" category.

You are in Southern Pine Beetle country and they are doing a number on the pines, according to a friend who lives in the Southeast. Overwintering broods of the SPB emerge in early spring. They like mature trees and I would definitely be concerned by the number of holes we are seeing. What I don't see are old pitch tubes or sawdust. But the SPB has a much smaller tube than our western species of turpentine beetle.

I would get a qualified professional on site to confirm which beetle you are dealing with (although the treatment for many of them might be the same) and evaluate the extent of the decay you are seeing.

Sylvia

 

[capetrees]

Spark up the chipper on this one and spray your other trees to prevent this from happening to them.

 

[Ed Roland]

Perhaps, an effective response is an insecticidal spray program for this and the non-symptomatic adjacent trees in your landscape. The certified pro you use will have to make this call. Go ahead and make sure they are state licensed pesticide applicators as they will, likely try to sell you a treatment program consisting of a few visits applying a specialized product. Do your research then consider it.

He or she will no doubt recommend ways to reduce stress on the tree as well. Don't let them sell you squirt and fert to increase vigor/vitalility.

good luck