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Ips Beetle

Started by Woodwalker, November 01, 2009, 09:54:27 AM

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Woodwalker

We had a draught here all summer, which stressed the timber. I've had several oaks die, Red, White and Water oaks. Hated to loose them, but didn't loose that many. The SYP didn't fair as well. Ips beetles thrive on stressed pine trees. As a result, there are Loblolly pines dead just about where ever you look.
I've cut almost two dozen dead ones that would reach the house. For the most part I've been able to put a rope in them and pull and off them the house, fences and power line, but I had four inside the yard fence that I brought a bucket truck home and topped down.  It started raining over a month ago and I thought maybe the things had run their course, but I have at least three more dead inside the yard fence and no clear way to throw them.

Sometimes you can see sap oozing out of the bored entrance holes. When it was dry it wasn't nearly this much.


You usually see a very fine red dust where the beetle entered.


The results.




Just cause your head's pointed, don't mean you are sharp.

WDH

Woodwalker,

Those pesky beetles are such opportunists.  I bet they are killing me on the Company's property in San Jacinto County.  Looks like a trip over there is in order.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Texas Ranger

Yup, between Rita, Ike and the drought, we are taking a beating with all 3 Ip's, and Black Turpentine, oh, and the occasional SPB just to remind us they are still here.  Only phone calls I have had have been from home owners and land owners worried sick they have spb's eating on them.
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

Tom

What do you do about it?

Woodwalker

Quote from: Tom on November 01, 2009, 08:23:10 PM
What do you do about it?
Cut and salvage what you can. There is no effective way to spray for them. You would have to spray crown down and then the things won't get every tree. They may be in one or two trees at one point, then skip over 20 to a 100 feet infest some more.
Just cause your head's pointed, don't mean you are sharp.

WDH

Fortunately Ips only kill trees in small clusters.  Southern Pine Beetle, on the other hand, can kill acres and acres at a time.  Ips are bad and destructive, but all is not lost since they jump around killing only a few trees at a time like Woodwalker said.  With SPB, all can be lost as they move like an advancing front, killing all pine trees in their path if their numbers build up to epidemic levels.  Fortunately, their numbers do not often build up to that point.  However, I have seen them wipe out as many as 80 acres at one time.  That was 1979, the worst year for SPB in my experience.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

SwampDonkey

I've seen acres and acres killed by SPB down near Raider Bill's TN home on those Bowater lands. They were cutting them as fast as they could, mostly plantations, nothing much bigger than 8" dbh. This was in 2001 that I was down there. Seen some large areas in SW NC as well, wherever there was pine.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Texas Ranger

Danny, in 1986 I worked a 3000 acre spot on the A-C reservation, got that big cause they would not let control efforts do what needed to be done.  Once they turned us lose, we had it shut down in about 3 weeks.
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

WDH

Wow, I cannot imagine losing such value on that much timber.  If it ain't hurricanes, it is bugs, and if it is huurricanes, then its bugs  :).
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Woodwalker

WDH, It could be worse, could be somewhere worrying about freezing body parts off :D
Somewhere about the same time TR is talking about, SP beetles got started in part of the National Forest just a little North of here. I was told it was less than 5 acres when they found it. Tree huggers got involved, legal stuff and a year or so later they brought in a couple of helicopters to salvage the standing dead timber.
For a long time there was a lot of blue lumber being marketed around here.
Some of the timber went as poles as piling, so about eight to ten years later, we were going back and replacing a bunch  of rotten poles.
Just cause your head's pointed, don't mean you are sharp.

pappy19

The western states have been dealing with the Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) and Ips for 40 years. Probable the best method of dealing with them came about in the 1970's in central Idaho by Boise-Cascade foresters. They found that if they watched the maturity of the beetles that were already in the trees and just before they were to fly, they cut or thinned unwanted trees, and/or commercial trees, and left them on the ground, branches attached, the beetles would attack those trees instead of standing trees. They continued to watch the maturity of the beetles and did the same thing at the next flight. In the late summer or early fall, the last flight of over-wintering beetles were in the cut trees, they would haul them to the mill and thus exterminate that batch of beetles. They called this method the "green-chain" beetle control method.

Obviously you won't get every beetle, but you can take away alot of them using this method. Also, make sure that none of the cut trees are touching a leave tree. Regarding chemical control, Sevimol will work on individual value trees, but needs to be re-applied every year at least 2/3 up the trunk.
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SwampDonkey

Fire, I say burn the buggers. That's what nature always did.  ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

WDH

Once all the trees died and the needles fell, that is exactly what happened.  Mother nature burned everything up and the natural succession cycle began anew.  We just don't like that part of the natural cycle  :).
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

pappy19

Actually it's a fairly common practice to thin and control burn pine thickets...and that usually means a healthier stand of pines that will "pitchout" most bark beetle attacks or not get hit at all. It's the stressed trees that seem to get hit mostly and growth competition is one of the biggest critera that BB's seem to go for.
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2007 Lincoln LT
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Shindiawa fan

edwardj_

I Live in Northern Alberta Canada.  I am trying to set up a mill and get into being a sawyer.  But thats not what this thread is about.  We have an area here we all call "Sand Lake" Its actually Sand Hill Lake.  Anyways.  It is a fairly large area of Pine trees with a few patches of white Poplar.  A couple years back the Pine Bugs started in there.  They govt or whoever decided to come in and cut a few trees and burn them.  Then last year they were in there with a heli and pulled a whole whack of trees and piled and burnt them.  Many would have been good for lumber.  oy.  This fall I went in there to get some firewood...   Looking around All I can see is trees turned brown or starting to.  Or they have the tell tale holes w/ sap around them.  Found out that I need a permit to get wood of crown land and so off to the Sustainable Resources office I went.  The guy there told me that the bugs have killed more than 90% of the pine trees.  And that legally even if I want to onoly take the bug killed trees out of the area for firewood/ milling that I cant.  It is a "natural area" so no matter who you are it is illegal to pull trees from within the area.  Its where we drive atvs and bikes around and camp in the summer.  I think it is very poor of the govt to have allowed this to happen to the area.  If we have pine bug killed trees on our land we have to knock them down and burn them or at least all the bark.  But on crown land it is ok to let them destroy everything.   Even if citizens such as myself want to help we are not allowed.  Whats up with that?

pappy19

Pretty much the same situation all over the western US on federal US Forest Service lands. They wouldn't allow any cutting of green trees, thinning, etc., but when 90% of the stands die and turn brown, the public gets up in arms, so now they allow firewood sales for $5 a cord. Your government at work.
2008 F-250 V-10
2007 Lincoln LT
1996 Ford Bronco
Kubota 900 RTV
Shindiawa fan

edwardj_

I went and asked if i could get a firewood permit to take out some of the larger dead trees to use in a mill.   they said no....   if i want to go farther back past the "Natural Area" and go on crown land there and get some it is ok...  problem there is that about the line where it is legal for mt to take them it turns to poplar instead of pine trees...  I wouldnt mind poplar but it seems that all the trees there are very young and only about 6" DBH.   I am trying to find anything over 14" DBH and having a very hard time.  Might borrow a friends quad this weekend and go look some...   snow is getting too deep for my 2wd truck... lol.   and i am running out of time on my permit

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