Pine Shoot Beetle Control: How to Get Rid of Pine Shoot Beetles

This page is a general DIY guide on removing pine shoot beetle infestations by using the products and methods suggested through our experienced pest control specialists. Follow this guide and use the recommended products and we guarantee you will be successful in eliminating pine shoot beetles from your property.

The pine shoot beetle is a leading destructive pest of pine trees and related species. Though these bark beetles (Tomicus piniperda) are compulsive eaters they are less likely to cause damages to the interior structure of homes, but rather feast on available plant material such as Christmas trees or other conifer plants. Normally, pine shoot beetles remain under the bark of pine trees in forest settings and sometimes within northern lawns consisting of pine tree species. Though a cold dependent pest, the pine shoot beetle can also be found in southern lawns if temperatures are ideal.

As a consequence of its vigorous appetite, shoots and branches of pine tree species become stunted then eventually die. At any point of its lifecycle, egg to adult, effects from its activities causes aesthetic to complete death of foliage within three months depending on the size of the plant. This is especially seen as one pine shoot beetle can destroy up to 6 small branches of pine tree per its lifecycle.

This species does not differentiate between weak, stressed, or healthy trees within your lawn or ornamental garden. Once your property becomes infested signs of this pest activity goes unnoticed until they reach mature sexual development since they spend most of their lives inside the plant bark. In this article, following the recommended steps and products will keep pine shoot beetles from targeting trees in your yard.

Identification

Before proceeding with the following steps, you will need to make sure that the pest infesting your property is a pine shoot beetle. Misidentification can lead you to using the wrong treatment method, which in turn leads to a waste of time and money. Here are some identifying characteristics on pine shoot beetles:

• Adult pine shoot beetles are dark reddish brown to black colored.
• When fully matured, it measures 1/25 (1 mm) long in length about the size of a grain of rice, have cylindrical shaped bodies, six legs, and has two pairs of six-segmented antennae.
• Most recognized feature of pine shoot beetles that separate them from other beetles is their smooth second elytral declivity (the downward slope of the rear end).
• Eggs are smooth and shiny white with an oval shape.
• Larvae also known as grubs are white, legless, c-shaped, with reddish brown head capsules. They are about 5 mm long in length.

Use the image and description above to properly identify pine shoot beetles on your property. If unsure, then contact us with a photo of your pest through email, phone, or in person at one of our store locations.

Inspection

Once you have confirmed that the pest you are facing is a pine shoot beetle, you can then proceed with inspection. During this phase, you will determine the areas where pine shoot beetles are most active or the conditions allowing the pest to survive. By following this you help to focus your treatment applications, thus lessening the amount of time and amount of products used.

Where to Look

As their name suggests, the pine shoot beetle mainly infests pine tree species and sometimes spruce or larch trees within forests, lawns, landscapes, and gardens when temperatures are above 54 degrees Fahrenheit. Outbreaks of pine shoot beetles are most often caused by the increase of breeding material and sites during the early spring such as cut or fallen logs, piles of unsold Christmas trees, and pine shoot needles spread across the ground.

What to Look For

Pine shoot beetles breed and feast on decaying, dead, healthy, young, or cut stumps of pine trees. During the early spring (March to April) pine shoot beetles will lay eggs within decaying or dying trees as the bark is more easily chewable for the larvae to feast upon hatching. From April to June, the larvae feeds under the bark of trees leaving behind galleries of tunnels. Then from July to October, the larvae emerges from the wood as adults to feed on the shoots of trees by burrowing into its center. Shoots that have been feasted on by the adults causes them to wilt, turn yellow, lose their needles, and fall off during the summer and fall. When pine shoot beetles feeding activity is great the effected tree can reduce in size and overtime cause the tree to completely perish.

Treatment

Before proceeding with treatment, you will need to wear the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) prior to handling or applying any pesticide materials.

Unfortunately, treatments may prove to be ineffective due to the pests ability to overwinter underneath tree bark surfaces to escape from liquid insecticide applications. For this reason, it would be best to spray liquid insecticide products containing either bifenthrin, chlorpyrifos, or cyfluthrin during mid-June when adults emerge from wood to feast on shoots.

Step 1: Remove Cut Stumps and Effected Trees

Since most of the pine shoot beetles lifecycle is underneath the tree bark it may be difficult to first identify their damages until the tree's death occurs or when populations are greatly increased.

Control of pine shoot beetles is best when discolored, dying, or bare tree shoots and needles are removed from your property. You may do this from November to February when pine shoot beetles undergo a state of hibernation when the weather is warmer and temperatures are above 54 degrees Fahrenheit. However, removal of effected healthy and decaying trees be continued throughout the year to further control pine shoot beetle larvae and other pests such as termites.

Unfortunately, pine shoot beetles hibernate at the base of trees and shoots so complete remove of trees may be required.

Burning of trees can be used, but must be followed in accordance with your city and state regulations.

Step 2: Apply Supreme IT in Mid-June

Supreme IT is a broad-spectrum and long-lasting liquid insecticide that is labeled to treat pine shoot beetles, including 70 other type of pests. Once applied, retreatment is not necessary until 90 days have passed from first application. To treat hard to reach height of trees it may be best to use a hose-end sprayer.

Determine how much Supreme IT to use by measuring the square footage of the treatment site. To do this, measure the length and width of the treatment site in feet and multiply (length X width = square footage). To control adult pine shoot beetles, use 0.5 to 1.0 oz. of Supreme IT per gallon of water per 1,000 sq. ft.

Make sure your water hose pump and hose-end sprayer control valve is turned off. Attach the hose-end sprayer nozzle to the end of garden hose until secured. Add the proper amount of Supreme IT into the hose-end sprayer tank and fill it with enough water to treat the entire treatment area. Reattach the filled hose-end sprayer tank to the nozzle. Once attached turn the water hose on and push forward on the hose-end sprayer control valve.

Apply Supreme IT to the leaves, stems, and trunks of non-bearing fruit and nut trees, ornamental trees, and lawns to control adult pine shoot beetles.

Prevention

After pine shoot beetles have been removed from your trees, you will need to ensure they do not return. Here are some practices we suggest following to prevent pine shoot beetle reinfestation:

• Regular pruning of infected, decaying, discolored, and bare pine needles and branches will help to remove habitat and food for the pine shoot beetle. This action not only removes unpleasing foliage from your property, but also promotes new plant growth.
• Insecticide products are best used before pine shoot beetles infest the bark of pine tree species and lay eggs. Apply Supreme IT as a preventative treatment at the beginning of November, December, January, or February when pine shoot beetles are less active. You may also spray at the beginning of March, June, and August.
• If the damage to the pine tree species is quite extensive then you will need to completely remove it from trunk to roots. You may replace these trees with new ones, but they will need to treated with Supreme IT. Untreated, new and healthy pine trees are just as susceptible to pine shoot beetle activities. All removed pine tree materials will need to be burned or grinded into wood chips. Do not leave or reuse wood chips as this may contain pine shoot beetle larvae.
• Remove overgrown tree branches to reduce shade and moisture in wood for pine shoot beetles.
• Deeply water your trees with an inch of irrigation along the drip line or tree roots outer canopy. Do not directly water the tree trunk as the moisture may cause fungi or attract other types of pests such as termites.
• Fertilize your tree with the correct seasons fertilizer and ensure that is labeled to treat your pine tree species.
• Rake fallen pine tree needles, bark, and limbs to deter pine shoot beetles away from your properties trees.

Key Takeaways

What Are Pine Shoot Beetles?

• Pine shoot beetles is a common wood destroying insect known to lay eggs or mature underneath the bark of several pine tree species leading the tree to become bare, discolored, then eventually die.

How to Get Rid of Pine Shoot Beetles

• A long-lasting liquid insecticide such as Supreme IT can remove and prevent pine shoot beetles from your tree for up to 90 days.

Preventing Pine Shoot Beetle Reinfestation

• Continue to prune your pine trees throughout the year to prevent reinfestation of pine shoot beetles. In some cases when there is significant damages it may be best to completely remove the tree from your property. Spray quarterly with Supreme IT to protect your trees.