When You Have a Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak
Mountain pine beetle outbreaks ruin many beautiful landscapes.
Once a tree is infested with mountain pine beetles, there’s no saving it. By destroying the tree, you can stop the adult beetles from emerging in summer and attacking the rest of your trees.
- CUT AND DESTROY. Cut the tree down and destroy the beetles so they can’t fly to new trees next year. You can have the tree chipped, turn it into lumber, bury it, remove all the bark, or use it for firewood, which must be burned before the new beetles emerge in the summer.
- CUT AND HEAT. Another method to kill the bugs is to lay the logs on a sunny slope in fall and cover them with clear plastic for at least 8 weeks. This makes a kind of miniature greenhouse, raising the temperature enough to kill the larvae. These instructions from Colorado State University explain how to do a solar treatment.
A local extension agent or forester can help you work out how to control mountain pine beetles on your land.
Healthy woods are generally better at resisting mountain pine beetle infestation.
Previous page
How can I get more tips?
It’s simple! Enter your email below.