What's 'Bugging' You?

                                              Woodland Park - What's Bugging you?

In an article dated September 21, 2008 by R. Scott Rappold, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports that the Colorado State Forest Service office in Woodland Park has received numerous calls from people worried that the dying pine needles they see on their trees are a result of pine beetle infestation. The Colorado Forest Service assures us that what we are seeing is the annual dying of pine needles, and not the result of the voracious appetite of pine beetles.

"Many types of evergreens shed their needles in the fall, and especially so in dry years like this one", Rappold reports officials as saying.

So, how do you recognize the pine beetle, and the affected trees? The Mountain Pine Beetle, (MPB), is native to the forests of western North America. Periodic outbreaks result in losses of millions of trees, mainly ponderosa, lodgepole, Scotch and limber pine.

The MPB can be distinguished by the shape of it's hind wing cover which is gradually curved. The signs and symptoms of an MPB attack on your trees, are listed here:

Signs and Symptoms of MPB Attack

• Popcorn-shaped masses of resin, called "pitch tubes," on the trunk where beetle tunneling begins. Pitch tubes may be brown, pink or white
• Boring dust in bark crevices and on the ground immediately adjacent to the tree base.
• Evidence of woodpecker feeding on trunk. Patches of bark are removed and bark flakes lie on the ground or snow below tree.
• Foliage turning yellowish to reddish throughout the entire tree crown. This usually occurs eight to 10 months after a successful MPB attack.
• Presence of live MPB (eggs, larvae, pupae and/or adults) as well as galleries under bark. This is the most certain indicator of infestation. A hatchet for removal of bark is needed to check trees correctly.
• Bluestained sapwood . Check at more than one point around the tree's circumference.

Infested Trees

• Once MPB infests a tree, nothing practical can be done to save that tree.
• Under epidemic or outbreak conditions, enough beetles can emerge from an infested tree to kill at least two, and possibly more, trees the following year.
• Ips and related beetles that emerge early in summer often are mistaken for mountain pine beetle, leading to early reports that "MPB is flying." Be sure to properly identify the beetles you find associated with your trees.
• Trees from which MPB have already emerged (look for numerous round, pitch-free exit holes in bark) do not need to be treated.
• The direction and spread rate of a beetle infestation is impossible to predict. However, attacked trees usually are adjacent to or near previously killed trees.

For more detailed information go to Colorado State University

"Information reprinted with permission from Colorado State University Extension, fact sheet no. 5.528, Mountain Pine Beetle, by D.A. Leatherman, I. Aguayo, and T.M. Mehal, more information at www.ext.colostate.edu.”

The US Forest Service says aerial surveys show no signs of infestation in in the Pikes Peak area this summer. Good news for us - good news for our trees!

ASP REALTOR, Prudential Professional REALTORS

Woodland Park Colorado