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Please help me save my pine (bugs)

JB-PlantHeirloom

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Have you IDed the beetle?

It looks like they are girdling the tree because it looks like there is no bark at the top of the tree. If it was my tree, I would cut off all the dead lower limbs, burn them, and try injecting one of my favorite bug killers under the bark through the holes.

gallon of water
2-3 TBL of dish soap (Dawn)
2-3 tsp of peppermint oil

I would put a soaker hose around the drip line to help de-stress the tree. It is cement bound, so, it probably could use some water. This is where free water from a rain water system comes in, no chemicals added, and you can soak it 100-500 gallons at a time.

I am not an arborist nor do I play one on TV, so, I will not suggest what nutrition you could add. I have seen people water and feed hardwoods back to life in Georgia.

The white cocoons look like spider egg sacks to me.
 

davidwyby

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I haven't ID'd yet. Need to get up in there more.

I just put some inserts in last week.

Sprayed with imidacloprid.

I don't think bark is missing at the top, just the picture looks like it. Fingers crossed they're only on branches so far.

Pine fertilizer spikes in the ground.

Soaked. (we have no rainwater to collect....)

I'll get it with the Dawn mix too, I've had a couple recommendations for that.

The outer layers of bark on this tree are loose and flaky. I wonder if the flakes harbor more bugs and if I should gently remove with leaf rake?

Thank You
 

JB-PlantHeirloom

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> The outer layers of bark on this tree are loose and flaky. I wonder if the flakes harbor more bugs and if I should gently remove with leaf rake?

Not an arborist, so, I can't answer that. It does harbor bugs, but, that is the way the tree is designed, so, I would not go knocking the bark off unless I knew better.

The reason the Dawn (or soap) works (so I heard) is it breaks the surface tension of the water and drowns them (especially ants). Other bugs and things tend not to like the peppermint oil, plus, I think the oil helps make it stick to things. It will immediately kill many things except palmetto bugs (aka flying roaches).
 

davidwyby

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I orignallly treated it with myco in a deep waterer, sprayed with imidacloprid, knocked the dead out. Got better for a while and started looking brown again. Probably should have kept at it. Almost all the other pines around are gone. I did the same again today. If it’s not better this winter I’m cutting it down and planting a sissoo.

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43EDA5B9-308B-493B-9779-C704CD4D1206.jpeg
 

JB-PlantHeirloom

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> I’m cutting it down and planting a sissoo.

I did not know what this was, looked it up today, supposedly has an invasive and destructive root system. I do not think I would plant it in a front yard, though I have planted two fig trees in my front yard about 50 feet from the garage and incoming sewer and water lines, so, what do I know :-D

Though the roots would have to pass under a twelve foot wide driveway to get to utilities and I do not see that happened in the near few decades.
 

davidwyby

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Seems they might be ok if one stays on top of the deep watering. Lack of that might be what’s getting my pine. Clay soil, sprinklers only water the grass on the surface.
 

davidwyby

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Ya know what really bums me out is lots of big pondos and cedars dying up on the mountain.
 

alfack

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I've had to drop about a half-dozen large ponderosas in my yard, the past few years. The owner of the home, before me, had a log deck delivered for firewood. I'm pretty sure the log deck was infested western pine beetles. I need to drop another one this spring. I am hoping that will be the last of the beetle kill.
 

Seachaser

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If sawdust is around the bottom of the tree, you may as well cut it down. Lost some 40 year old pines in the front yard. They were weakened by drought and then the pine beetles.
 

davidwyby

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Keeps getting thinner and browner. No new green needles. I think I’m gonna have to whack it. :-(

IMG_2787.jpegIMG_2788.jpeg
 

Seachaser

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Once beetles get into pines, it’s over. I’ve lost quite a few over the years. Stress leads to beetles. I’ve seen them spread over several acres.
 

davidwyby

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Once beetles get into pines, it’s over. I’ve lost quite a few over the years. Stress leads to beetles. I’ve seen them spread over several acres.
It is a desert…if someone forgets to water there’s stress. Almost all the other pines in the ‘hood are gone.
 
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