How do you identify southern pine beetles?

Southern pine beetle infestations are characterized by trees with reddish brown crowns surrounded by those with green needles. Obvious signs of infestation include white pitch tubes, running pitch, sawdust at the base of the tree, and many small emergence holes in the bark.

Why is the southern pine beetle a problem?

The SPB must kill its host pines to reproduce, and attacks trees en masse. The SPB causes significant and rapid economic losses in all forest types, including traditional forests, urban forests, watersheds and viewsheds, and negatively impacts habitat for endangered species and recreational areas.

What does the Southern pine beetle do?

Southern pine beetles not only kill individual trees, but also when conditions are favorable, their populations can build up rapidly and cause extensive damage. When beetle populations are high, the number of beetles attacking trees may be so large that even healthy trees are killed.

What do Southern pine beetle eat?

phloem tissue
SPB feed on phloem tissue where they construct winding S-shaped or serpentine galleries. The galleries created by both the adult beetles and their offspring can effectively girdle a tree, causing its death. SPB also carry, and introduce into trees, blue-stain fungi.

How do you control southern pine beetles?

At present, forest managers or landowners faced with southern pine beetle infestations can choose from four direct control options: (1) removal and utilization or sale of infested trees (salvage), (2) cut-and-leave or cut-and-top, (3) fell and spray with insecticides, and (4) fell, pile, and burn infested trees.

What is the life cycle of a southern pine beetle?

The southern pine beetle has four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The adult is dark red brown to black in color and 2-4 mm in length (Fig. 2). The rear end is rounded and the head is visible from above.

What are pine beetles attracted to?

pine trees
Pine bark beetles are attracted to pine trees by smelling the trees sap. Though most trees will emit small amounts of sap naturally, trees which sustain injury due to man or nature are more likely to get beetle activity.

How do you stop pine beetles?

The only treatment that can be applied to the tree is preventative. This will protect the tree by killing the beetles before they infest the tree. Insecticides containing the active ingredients permethrin or carbaryl and labeled for bark beetle control, should be done by early June to protect trees from MPB.

How do you control pine beetles?

The following steps will minimize the risk of damage to forests by insects or disease:

1. Stand and peel. Using a knife, carefully peel the bark away from entry holes, exposing the beetles under the bark to the cold.
2. Removal and disposal. Beetle infested trees are a risk to our forests.
3. Monitor.
4. Maintain health.
5. Remove trees.

What do you do if you have pine beetles?

Southern Pine Beetle: When you have an outbreak

1. Cut & remove. This is your most effective option.
2. Cut & leave. Identify infested and buffer trees, fell them toward the center of the infestation, and then leave them on the ground.
3. Cut, pile & burn.
4. Cut & spray.

How big does the southern pine beetle get?

The beetle is small, only 2-4 mm in length (about the size of a grain of rice) and is red-brown to black in color. This insect is native to the southeastern United States but has been expanding its range up the east coast in recent years. Warming of extreme winter temperatures has most likely contributed to this expansion.

Where do the beetles live in a pine tree?

Southern pine beetle pupae occur in the bark. Southern pine beetle pupae occur in the bark. Southern yellow pines are the primary hosts of southern pine beetles, but they have been reported from red spruce and Norway spruce.

When was the last outbreak of the southern pine beetle?

From 1999-2002, an outbreak of the beetle in the southeastern U.S. resulted in more than one billion dollars in loss for the timber industry, according to the U.S. Forest Service. SPB populations naturally rise and fall.

When do southern pine beetles come to North Carolina?

The pupa is delicate, white, and shaped somewhat intermediate between the grub and adult stages. Southern pine beetles become active in the spring about the time redbuds and dogwoods bloom. Pairs of southern pine beetles attack weakened and lightening damaged pine trees.