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White pine borer ID #812420

Asked September 27, 2022, 3:36 PM EDT

I have a 40' white pine on a client's site where I am attempting to discover the cause(s) of death. I noticed that the trunk has borer holes in it as well as the limbs. Without identification, I can't be certain if they were one of the causes or just opportunistic pests. There were two different sizes of exit holes with the ones in the attached picture the larger of them. The smaller ones peppered the limbs randomly along its length. I also attached a pic of one borer larvae. The galleries in the last picture were the most distinctive of the two that I found. You can see the other type in the pic of the larvae. Is it possible to identify the type of borer from the description and pictures? There is a healthy white pine next to the dead one that I want to protect from any infestation. We are doing what we can to keep that healthy and wonder if an insecticide root drench is warranted annually.

Kent County Michigan

Expert Response

Hi David,
Because larvae identification is not a strong point, I reached out to an entomology professor online to seek an answer to your question. Below is her response.
 

The larva in the photo is a cerambycid larva - it will grow up and become a longhorned beetle. It’s not possible to determine the species of these larvae but I’ll bet it’s a pine sawyer - probably Monochamous scutellatus but perhaps another Monochamous beetle. Pine sawyers tend to like to colonize white pine and M. scutellatus is the most common species here.


The large-ish exit holes in the bark were likely made by adult sawyer beetles emerging from the tree. The smaller exit holes were probably made by bark beetles. There will likely be larval galleries of both types of insects under the bark. Cerambycids start off feeding in the phloem (inner bark) but then move into the sapwood as they get larger. Bark beetles feed only in the phloem although the galleries of both types of insects will etch the outer sapwood.


In the first photo, it sort of looks like perhaps weevil larvae colonized the tree too but it’s hard to tell - I can’t tell the size of those galleries or what was in the little divots. If it was weevils, they would leave distinct chip cocoons under the bark. Weevils, and only weevils, pupate in chip cocoons. Northern pine weevil might colonize dying white pines - usually they get into logs laying on the ground tho. They leave round exit holes too - kind in between bark beetels and cerambycids. Without seeing the affected pine in person, its hard to tell how big the exit holes are.


At any rate, all of those insects and pretty much all the phloem-feeding and woodboring species that would colonize white pine in this region are secondary pests. They would only be attracted to and successfully colonize trees that are really really stressed, dying or have recently died or been felled. Drenching the live tree with an insecticide is not going to do much good. It would be much more effective to figure out why that white pine got so stressed and do what you can to avoid severe stress on the live tree. Usually, it’s a question of water - mostly not enough water. Road salt, compacted soil, etc. can all be stressors too. White pine is notoriously sensitive to herbicides (e.g., applied around or near the base of a tree) and even to air pollution.

I do hope this helps. While the larvae id escapes me, I do very much understand the dynamics of trees and the environmental stressors they face. Feel free to reach out with any questions. 
Thank you,
Julie
Julie Crick Replied September 29, 2022, 8:43 AM EDT

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