Beetle infestation?? - Ask Extension
Hello,
My name is ,
My husband and I live in West Laurel, MD. We moved into our house about 6 months ago. We were told the pine trees on our property...
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Beetle infestation?? #442642
Asked March 06, 2018, 4:53 PM EST
Hello,
My name is ,
My husband and I live in West Laurel, MD. We moved into our house about 6 months ago. We were told the pine trees on our property were some type of Alaskan spruce or evergreen trees. They are beautiful and we love them. (Not sure why the builder planted Pacific North West trees here). During this past wind storm, one broke about 8 feet up from base and fell over. It was then that we noticed that it was eaten up on the inside and contains bore holes. We've been doing some research about boring beetles but we are still not sure which ones they are and how bad the infestation is with the other trees on the property. We have between 20-22 of these Alaskan trees on our one acre lot. As I observed, every single one of them had sap stains as trying to push them out and the sap is whitish blue. Some are worse that others. The tree next to our fallen tree is just covered with the white/blue sap.
Can you please help us??
I have attached pics.
We are very new to this property and owning these types of trees.
We'd love to save them if it's possible.....but we are realistic about the situation.
Can you recommend who to call and actions we need to take?
We don't want more to fall and risk our house, which may be a possibility with the coming storms and springtime winds/rains.
Thank you for any recommendations and advice that you can give us!
Best,
Prince George's County Maryland
Expert Response
We cannot say exactly what has infested your spruce, but it looks like multiple organisms such as beetles, carpenter ants, possibly some termites, as well as rot.
Though we cannot identify the trees from your photos (close-ups of the needles may make that possible), they appear to be a species of spruce that does not tolerate the heat and droughts of Maryland. Stressed trees attract insect pests. If you have any healthy trees of this species, watering them during droughts is the best thing you can do.
Here is an explanation of how to deal with bark beetles: https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/bark-beetles
You'll want to remove the most infected trees. Because you have so many affected trees, you may want to contact a tree service company with an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture. Click on 'Find an Arborist' on this website , and follow the prompts to get names of arborists near you: http://www.treesaregood.org/
ECN
Though we cannot identify the trees from your photos (close-ups of the needles may make that possible), they appear to be a species of spruce that does not tolerate the heat and droughts of Maryland. Stressed trees attract insect pests. If you have any healthy trees of this species, watering them during droughts is the best thing you can do.
Here is an explanation of how to deal with bark beetles: https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/bark-beetles
You'll want to remove the most infected trees. Because you have so many affected trees, you may want to contact a tree service company with an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture. Click on 'Find an Arborist' on this website , and follow the prompts to get names of arborists near you: http://www.treesaregood.org/
ECN