What is it?
White pine weevil is a native insect in North America, it is brown in color. It attacks leaders (the top) of both spruce and pine, causing dead top of the tree.
Symptoms
- The weevils climb to the top of the trees and chew small holes in barks.
- Dead and crook top are noticeable after attack.
Damages
- Young trees are more suspicious to attack.
- After the leader of the tree is dead, several new leader will develop and resulting multi-trunks in future.
- Trees are rarely die because of the weevil, but it will deform the tree.
What to do?
- Prune out infested leaders to the second whorl of branches on spruces. With pine, just remove the infested leader.
- Prune and select the best leader if multiple leader developed.
- Banded tree trunks with sticky traps in spring can help prevent adults climb up to the top. If the insect is capable to fly in warmer days, it will not be effective.
- No chemical controls is effective.
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