Loblolly Pines growth in five years
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pappy19
Silver Member
Loblolly.
woodchuckie
Platinum Member
We've had a bit of a blight in pines in the southeast. Some sort of beetle I'm told, I think(?). It has supposedly peaked and things are improving. I lost a few pines but haven't seen a new dead one in over a year. Don't know if the problem is specific to hybrids, loblollys or all pines in general.[/quote]
The great southern pine beetle. They can pick out the weak,damaged and stressed trees(less sap) and tunnel under the bark effectively griddleing the tree. They lay thier eggs here and when they hatch they travel to neighboring trees and start the tunneling again. I've found that a cleared area about fifty feet wide stops their progression. It's very rare for a long leaf tree to be killed because the sap flow washes the beetle out so it can't tunnel. If you scrape the bark off you might as well cut it down now to prevent beetles.
The great southern pine beetle. They can pick out the weak,damaged and stressed trees(less sap) and tunnel under the bark effectively griddleing the tree. They lay thier eggs here and when they hatch they travel to neighboring trees and start the tunneling again. I've found that a cleared area about fifty feet wide stops their progression. It's very rare for a long leaf tree to be killed because the sap flow washes the beetle out so it can't tunnel. If you scrape the bark off you might as well cut it down now to prevent beetles.
redlevel
Gold Member
Other pests we have that attack pines in GA are the Ips Engraver Beetle and a disease called Annosus root rot. Like the Southern Pine Beetle, the Ips Beetles attack weak trees.
I had a scare last year with the root rot disease. The pines on the farm across the dirt road from me suffered at least a forty percent loss over the last two years. A logging crew came in last fall and clear cut all but a few acres of the pines. They left standing some of the dead trees, and the results looked like a picture of a WW 1 battlefield. You can see a little of this beyond the truck and dozer in this picture. I was literally standing in the edge of my pines when I made the picture.
Over the last summer and fall, I had a lot of trees to die. I called in a state forester who told me he thought my pines had the same root rot disease. He referred me to one of his collegues, a forest disease expert, who said that my trees did not have the root rot, but were dying because of drought. He told me to pray for a cold, wet winter. He said the Ips Beetles were attacking the drought weakened trees, but there was no sign of Southern Pine Beetle or Annosus root rot. That was a relief.
We had a fairly wet winter, and had some cold weather in January and February. I also burned the pines for the first time, which will probably help with the beetle situation as much as anything.
This picture was made about three weeks after the burn.
I had a scare last year with the root rot disease. The pines on the farm across the dirt road from me suffered at least a forty percent loss over the last two years. A logging crew came in last fall and clear cut all but a few acres of the pines. They left standing some of the dead trees, and the results looked like a picture of a WW 1 battlefield. You can see a little of this beyond the truck and dozer in this picture. I was literally standing in the edge of my pines when I made the picture.
Over the last summer and fall, I had a lot of trees to die. I called in a state forester who told me he thought my pines had the same root rot disease. He referred me to one of his collegues, a forest disease expert, who said that my trees did not have the root rot, but were dying because of drought. He told me to pray for a cold, wet winter. He said the Ips Beetles were attacking the drought weakened trees, but there was no sign of Southern Pine Beetle or Annosus root rot. That was a relief.
We had a fairly wet winter, and had some cold weather in January and February. I also burned the pines for the first time, which will probably help with the beetle situation as much as anything.
This picture was made about three weeks after the burn.
