Other Wood Chewing Insects

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28. Besides borers, barkbeetles, and tip moths, here are a few other wood chewing pests.

29. Drooping leaders which eventually die on white pine or Norway spruce are the familiar symptoms of white pine weevil attack. This pest sometimes causes homeowners a great deal of concern even though only the very top of the tree is killed. The following season, one of the side shoots will spurt up and the tree will continue to grow. The result is a more bushy tree which may be even more aesthetically pleasing than a normal tree.

30. Adult white pine weevils overwinter in litter and duff on the ground. In early spring, they move to the leaders of suitable host trees and there mate and lay eggs. Preventative insecticides applied to the leader are effective if treatment occurs in late March or early April before the adults appear.

31. If egg laying occurs unhindered, the larvae soon hatch and burrow down the twig beneath the bark. The girdled twig droops, yellows, and then dies. Pruning out infested shoots before the new generation of adult weevils emerges in July will cut down on local weevil populations.

32. Pales weevil is a notorious pest of young pines planted near recently cut-over areas. The adults are attracted to freshly cut pine stumps and wood where they lay their eggs. Pine seedlings or twigs of young pines nearby become their food source and in time may be entirely stripped of their bark.

33. Similarly, the bark of deodar cedar provides food for the deodar weevil. Gum-covered feeding scars on the twigs are characteristic of the damage of this pest.

34. This long horned beetle is a curious insect known as the twig girdler. After laying an egg beneath the bark of a twig, the beetle chews a continuous notch around the twig which girdles it. The girdled twig soon drys out and breaks off; the larva develops inside the fallen twig on the ground. Damage to the host trees including elm, oak, hickory, dogwood, and others is generally insignificant. A similar insect, the twig pruner, hatches and begins feeding in a live twig then girdles it from within and completes its development on the ground.

35. Hornets are not known as friendly insects, but few people realize they can be plant pests. This is the European hornet, the largest hornet in the country. It makes its paper-like nest out of bark gathered from live twigs and branches.

36. Lilac, boxwood, willow, rhododendron, and other trees and shrubs are subject to attack. Girdled branches will die beyond the damage, but injury to the whole plant is usually not serious.

37. That concludes Part 3: Insects that Bore into Wood.

Return to Insects that Bore into the Wood

	28. Besides borers, barkbeetles, and tip moths, here are a few other wood chewing pests.
	29. Drooping leaders which eventually die on white pine or Norway spruce are the familiar symptoms of white pine weevil attack. This pest sometimes causes homeowners a great deal of concern even though only the very top of the tree is killed. The following season, one of the side shoots will spurt up and the tree will continue to grow. The result is a more bushy tree which may be even more aesthetically pleasing than a normal tree.
	30. Adult white pine weevils overwinter in litter and duff on the ground. In early spring, they move to the leaders of suitable host trees and there mate and lay eggs. Preventative insecticides applied to the leader are effective if treatment occurs in late March or early April before the adults appear.
	31. If egg laying occurs unhindered, the larvae soon hatch and burrow down the twig beneath the bark. The girdled twig droops, yellows, and then dies. Pruning out infested shoots before the new generation of adult weevils emerges in July will cut down on local weevil populations.
	32. Pales weevil is a notorious pest of young pines planted near recently cut-over areas. The adults are attracted to freshly cut pine stumps and wood where they lay their eggs. Pine seedlings or twigs of young pines nearby become their food source and in time may be entirely stripped of their bark.
	33. Similarly, the bark of deodar cedar provides food for the deodar weevil. Gum-covered feeding scars on the twigs are characteristic of the damage of this pest.
	34. This long horned beetle is a curious insect known as the twig girdler. After laying an egg beneath the bark of a twig, the beetle chews a continuous notch around the twig which girdles it. The girdled twig soon drys out and breaks off; the larva develops inside the fallen twig on the ground. Damage to the host trees including elm, oak, hickory, dogwood, and others is generally insignificant. A similar insect, the twig pruner, hatches and begins feeding in a live twig then girdles it from within and completes its development on the ground.
	35. Hornets are not known as friendly insects, but few people realize they can be plant pests. This is the European hornet, the largest hornet in the country. It makes its paper-like nest out of bark gathered from live twigs and branches.
	36. Lilac, boxwood, willow, rhododendron, and other trees and shrubs are subject to attack. Girdled branches will die beyond the damage, but injury to the whole plant is usually not serious.
	37. That concludes Part 3: Insects that Bore into Wood.