They’re coming for our trees

Beetles are devastating the forests in North America. The beetles have now reached the Ponderosa Pine trees in the Saltese Area and are beginning to cause destruction. I am very concerned that left unchecked, the beetle will destroy many of the old growth Ponderosa Pines in this Saltese area. Go to the Bark Beetles page for information about these pests and how to control them.

The picture below shows the pine beetle larva that I found in one of my trees in the Saltese area. You can easily see the large larva, but there is also tiny little larva in the channels in the bark. There were likely thousands of the larva in this tree. I cut down the tree and pealed off the bark and found this larva healthy and living in the middle of winter. This tree was healthy last year, approximately 60 years old, three feet in diameter, and about 80 feet tall. but was killed by these tiny beetles. There are multiple species of beetles attacking the trees, but I believe this one in my tree is Mountain Pine Beetle.

The beetle lifecycle is shown below. The beetles lay their eggs in the late summer and the eggs hatch into larva and grow through the winter while eating the tree. In the May to August time frame the larva become flying beetles, leave the tree, and attack adjacent trees.

It is difficult saving a tree once it has been invaded by the beetles, and I have been removing the trees that have already been attacked. I have found MAXXTHOR EC repellent to help prevent the future spread of the pine beetle. Here is a YouTube link https://youtu.be/OsbI8DT9lC0 with an explanation of how to use MAXXTHOR.