Texas Pine Beetle

[cam185]

The pine trees are being hit hard here in texas. Three weeks ago i removed a 60 ft pine that had died from the pine beetle, yesterday customer called me back to remove another, about 15 feet from the first one. Is there any way to prevent and stop the pine beetle besides thinning all the trees? Is there any kind of spray? A guy from the forest service told me 50% of the trees need to be removed.

 

[jomoco]

It can be done, sure, but it's impractical, probably illegal, and very expensive to do.

I've saved 3 trees in the past using carbaryl(Sevin Powder).

Two of them were sycamores infested with western flathead borers, 15 years ago, still alive to my knowledge.

The other was a rare for SoCal Jelecote pine(Pinus patula) with a massive Ipps beetle(Bark Beetle) infestation, 11 years ago, that made a spectacular recovery, and is thriving today.

It's a very laborious process, and an unusual off label use of sevin powder, and therefore to my understanding illegal, atleast here in CA.

jomoco

 

[fishercat]

i remember whne those pine beetles hit east Tennessee......

a few years ago.it was pretty sad.they lost a lot of trees.

 

[newsawtooth]

The guy from the forest service

must be an optimist. In Colorado, my own empirical evidence suggests mortality rates in infested stands around 75-100%. The insecticides are effective for small numbers of valuable trees under ideal conditions. And how often are conditions ideal? The guys spraying will tell you that you should spray all trees that are susceptible for obvious reasons. I bid on a logging project for the state in one of their campgrounds. They sprayed every tree for several years, they needed all of them removed last winter because they were killed by the pine beetles. Considering the rules on insecticide, jomoco nailed it, if it is effective it is illegal and probably for good reason. The insecticides we use now just are not that good, much better for the ground water,our health, and other organisms though.

 

[ClimbinArbor]

if the pine wilt nematode is your problem there are injections coming out to help prevent it, but as far as i know there is no cure(kill the bug save the tree)