What do we have here???

[ForTheArborist]

Eucs have been dieing here for a while now. Some of them are dead standing. Some are dead on the ground like in the pic.

There was a lot of these insects under the bark of some of the trees.

My plan for the whole lot of trees is to take any down if it shows signs of infestation, and if it shows no signs, leave it. I think the greedy thing to do would be to cut down as many of the trees as possible, which would be every single one there. I would rather leave the rest of them up. If the other trees can fend off the bugs themselves, then there is no use removing them.

 

[ForTheArborist]

Another thing that is bugging me on this property are the numerous young eucs with multitudes of stems all starting low to the ground. I'm almost certain these will only grow to be pains in the back side once they reach colossal status. Right away I think remove them because they are only going to be junk will cost them even more money later on, but what does anyone else who is familiar with eucs think???

They are big, weak trees. Personally, I say save all of the single stem trees, and drop the rest for the HO's sake. They would just be saving money by having it done now, and they won't damage any other trees or property. Agree/Disagree?

BTW, I hate eucs.

 

[sgreanbeans]

Isn't that white stuff called white fly? Its something like that. I remember the stuff just not the name, always forms on the backside of the leaf. Jeff will know. We had a ton of it at the 4-Seasons club house in Temecula, we used Pestmasters to treat it, not sure what they used.

 

[jefflovstrom]

Lerp psyllid, tortoise beetle, both.
Jeff

 

[ForTheArborist]

Thanks for the names. I'll rub the magic crystal google ball, and see what it says. It must be nice to just have even the nomenclature of these things floating around in your head. Now I'm getting fidgety about taking a swing at the ISA cert. tests.

 

[ForTheArborist]

That's tortoise beetle isn't much to worry about. I didn't see any damage by them on the property. The lerps were everywhere on a small group of red gums. We're just taking anything they were infesting to the dump.

What is boring life out of the eucs on this property? I can't find any longhorns anywhere, but I found millions of these in the pic below. I'm assuming that these are the real killers on this property, but I can't find anything on this particular species of insect. I tried to research them a while back, but I couldn't uncover anything about them.

What are they, Jeff? The phloem on many of these trees are eaten to death.

 

[yooper]

Those are earwigs. , they do like damp warm spots though. I find them under roofing sometimes as well in the trees here.

Earwig - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ForTheArborist]

Well, they are earwigs, but they aren't what are killing these eucs.

Based on all the info I found this morning, the longhorns are rampant in these eucs. I haven't seen any up close yet, and it's hard to say they are the only killer on the property. For instance the majority of those trees with the brown foliage in the pic have no trace of phloem damage. I'll dissect them carefully today to be absolutely sure of that. There are a lot of borers' tracks all over a lot of the wood out here as well as holes bored directly into the wood.

I better find out what these pathogens are, or I'm just going to be the rube with a chainsaw running a tree stunt show.

 

[newsawtooth]

For instance the majority of those trees with the brown foliage in the pic have no trace of phloem damage. I'll dissect them carefully today to be absolutely sure of that. There are a lot of borers' tracks all over a lot of the wood out here as well as holes bored directly into the wood.

FTA, I am having a difficult time reconciling these two statements. Are you sure their is no evidence of compromised phloem? Or are you suggesting the infestations of stems occurred after the tree declined? The earwigs are opportunists and you are correct that they are not the cause of decline. Also, the good Dr. Lovstrom gave you the answer.

 

[ForTheArborist]

FTA, I am having a difficult time reconciling these two statements. Are you sure their is no evidence of compromised phloem? Or are you suggesting the infestations of stems occurred after the tree declined? The earwigs are opportunists and you are correct that they are not the cause of decline. Also, the good Dr. Lovstrom gave you the answer.

Right, he identified the lerps and TB's, but neither of them kill trees. Both species destroy leaves a little, but there aren't whole barrages of tattered, chewed up leaves on the property. For instance the red gums with the lerps completely covering their entire canopies looked very healthy. Lerps haven't done anything to these eucs on this property except lurk around the trees a little.

I need to find some longhorns on these trees, or I'm going to be mystified for a while about "who the killer really is." :msp_unsure:

Tooth, the phloem is compromised. The dead stems look like the classic mazes that longhorn larvae leave, plus there are several holes bored directly into the stems.

 

[newsawtooth]

I agree that the canopy decline appears to indicates a boring insect that severs the cambium. No sign of the longhorns though? What is their life cycle? How many generations a year? Do the galleries appear like the beetle you seek or something else?

 

[jefflovstrom]

Right, he identified the lerps and TB's, but neither of them kill trees. Both species destroy leaves a little, but there aren't whole barrages of tattered, chewed up leaves on the property. For instance the red gums with the lerps completely covering their entire canopies looked very healthy. Lerps haven't done anything to these eucs on this property except lurk around the trees a little.

I need to find some longhorns on these trees, or I'm going to be mystified for a while about "who the killer really is." :msp_unsure:

Tooth, the phloem is compromised. The dead stems look like the classic mazes that longhorn larvae leave, plus there are several holes bored directly into the stems.

It is not just one thing that kills the tree, it is a combination of things.(usually). The tortoise beetles and psyllid's put the tree in stress which invites others. A pic of the exit hole would help. Longhorn borer's usually are active at nite. Go there in the late evening and you can hear them, I was bit by one before and it hurt like hell. The lack of irrigation also stops the tree from producing enough Sap to keep them at bay.
Jeff

 

[pdqdl]

Quit looking at the bugs, and start looking at the bigger picture.

All the vegetation is dying in that area. Grass, trees, everything is brown. I'd look for chemical/herbicide damage.

 

[newsawtooth]

Good Post, Jeff. Pests are usually symptomatic of stressed trees.

What is it with borer's? Their bite is painful. Earlier this summer I was removing pine beetle infested ponderosas. Covered in chips and saw dust the adult beetles mistook my neck several times for a tree. Unpleasant little bastards.

 

[jefflovstrom]

Quit looking at the bugs, and start looking at the bigger picture.

All the vegetation is dying in that area. Grass, trees, everything is brown. I'd look for chemical/herbicide damage.

Hi pdqdl, we haven't had rain in a very long time and we have vast area's that look like FTA's pics. If those euc's were not so good at stealing water from a rose bush 100' away, they would be in serious decline. In California, water is worth more than gold. Euc's are thieves.
Jeff :msp_smile:

 

[jefflovstrom]

Here ya go FTA,

 

[jefflovstrom]

Just for contrast, I had to look at a couple of euc's that the Board were concerned about. Seem's to them like alot of sap running out of the tree's and making a mess of syrup at the base. They were in a landscaped area and got water every day. So much uptake ain't no borer gonna go near it.
Jeff

 

[beastmaster]

Euc's are pretty hardy and drought resistant once established. If your seeing gallery's in pieces of dead wood there is a good chance they have one of the two types of longhorn beetles that are doing so much damage. I don't remember their exact time table of life cyclesbut while in the pupa stage they live under the bark damaging the phloem, during anther cycle they bore deep into the wood. Lots of times their holes are hidden from view because of the way Euc's bark grows. Look for places where there is some discoloring or darkening of the bark.
Everything in that area looks stressed. Longhorn euc beetles can smell a stressed tree, and in drought conditions like were having the younger less established trees really take a beating from every kind of pest. the dead ones still are full of leaves, so they went fast, The longhorn beetles can live several life cycles in a tree befor it dies, but lots of times the tree will show little decline, but then go all at once. I
Im betting it's the longhorn beetle. Some areas are really hot zones I love Euc's. For a while we were losing a lot of Euc's in LA and San bernadino,Riverside area. There was a program where they released a predatory wasp and natural enemy of the beetle. It worked really well for a while, then we started loosing euc's again, They discovered a subspecies of longhorn beetle(a little smaller then the other beetle)That wasn't effected by the beetle larva loving wasp Now were back to square one. I would rule out any fungous because it looks like a pretty dry area.
Keep us posted, I love detective work. I see a dead tree somewhere and I'll investigate it to find the cause. It'll enlighten and entertain you. Don't be hating on Euc's. Most the time their problems are cause by mismanagement. Good luck in your quest. Beastmaster

 

[ForTheArborist]

Well, before I headed out this morning, I completed some research on google. I could only find out that the Longhorns were the cause of our troubles. To confirm everything I found this morning I looked a little closer with the home owner at the wood from the dead trees, and we found the bored out mazes through the cambium, and bored holes directly into the wood. I didn't see this at first because I expected external traces of infestation. No, everything was done inside the bark. These trees were trees that had just died this summer. As you can see they still have the leaves on them, but they are brown.

The only insect I found today was larvae, so I can't determine which variety of Longhorn done it. But I am eager to find one, and pin point this critter. :rant:

The only thing is about this that I'm not kosher with is that HO wants to keep the trees that don't show signs of infestation. BM's depiction of their trees' sudden deaths after a long infestation leads me to believe these other eucs are infested. I can't find any bore holes on their surface, so I can't prove it. We'll see. If they die, I'll be back out there, but in the mean time the beetles have opportunity to infest other trees than the HO's own.

 

[ForTheArborist]

That is a stump of one of them that I cut down today. You can see the Longhorn's trademarks.

The big tree back there we are worried about. I can see the suspicious decline of some of that canopy in some areas that get open sunlight. Also the whole canopy looks thinned out to me. I can also see a few brown leaves up there keeping in mind that what is deceasing is out in the open sunlight and not under the canopy being blocked from the sun.