This weevil is attacking pines and you will notice it from the dead brown top leader in white pines, they say?

Question

If you cut the top out it will save the tree and the pine will start a new leader. Now, how do I get 20-30 feet up there to do that on all my pines? Do you think the large pines will survive ? I have only seen small pines that have been killed so far.

Answer 1

The only way to get up there to take care of the insects is climb or use a ladder. However, Bayer makes an extremely great product for bugs that you can use on your tree. It called Bayer Advanced tree and Shrub Insect Control. It is a systemic poison so how it works is you mix it in some water, following the directions of course, and pour it into the ground by the tree. The tree then drinks up the poison so that its in every leaf, twig, and peice of bark. Then, whenever any kind of bug tries to eat any part of the tree, its eating the poison too and then it obviously dies. This stuff really works. I work at Lowes and have used it on my trees and recommend it to anyone that comes in with a problem. Ive never heard any complaints. The only cons that I can think of are that 1) Since youre trying to treat older, bigger trees, it will take a while for the poison to reach all the way to the top. But since they are older trees, theyre more suseptible to insects, disease, droughts, etc anyways so it will take a while for the bugs to cause enough damage to kill the tree anyways 2) Older trees will require more poison and this stuff isnt the cheapest thing in the world. I think it runs between $15-$20 a bottle. However, it is in concentrate form so it will do several trees and like I said, this stuff really works so its worth the money. Especially when you think about how it lasts for a year and how much it would cost to replace your trees because they died using some cheaper stuff that didnt end up working.
I obviously know its sold at Lowes, which is where I highly recommend that you go...wink wink!! but Im sure its at the orange store (GAG!!), too. I also found a website about the stuff if you need more info: http://www.bayeradvanced.com/garden/products/details.cfm?id=12
Happy hunting!!

Answer 2

They're here in the Northeast as well. I have pines in my front yard that were planted by Horace Johonnet when he was home on leave from the Civil War and they are magnificent, but a forester told me we will never see tall pines like that again. Sorry, don't shoot the messenger. Hope that systemic poison works!

Answer 3

if you "top" a spruce or pine you will have to train a new leader, also the tree will never look better than "park grade" if you do.
while you know where the weevils are spray the tree and rid the problem. then cut it down and replace it.

Answer 4

Sounds like the dreaded Bark Beetle to me. Nasty brutes; they're wiping out huge swathes of pine forests here in the Southwest. Not much you can do about them...-They DON'T like rainy weather- which is why they're so bad now because we've been in a drought for so long. You MIGHT be able to keep a few of your trees alive if you can keep them watered & healthy. But once they're infected, their seasons are numberd.

Answer 5

My parents are having the same problem. The guy from the forestry said to cut the whole tree down and remove it or the bugs will travel to a new tree.