A Field Guide for Ground Checking Southern Pine Beetle Spots

Southern Pine Beetle Handbook

United States Department of Agriculture
Combined Forest Pest Research and Development Program - Agriculture Handbook No. 558 - Issued November 1979

In 1974 the U.S. Department of Agriculture initiated the Combined Forest Pest Research and Development Program, an interagency effort that concentrated on the Douglas-firtussock moth in the West, on the southern pine beetle in the South, and on the gypsy moth in the Northeast. The work reported in this publication was funded in whole or in part by the program. This manual is one in a series on the southern pine beetles.

Introduction

The job of locating and controlling the southern pine beetle (SPB) takes the teamwork of three separate field operations – aerial survey, ground check, and direct control. Aerial surveys locate many areas with dead or dying pines believed to harbor SPB. Some are active beetle spots; others are not. Only by checking from the ground can we be sure. So, on the basis of tree symptoms visible from the air, aerial survey crews assign each spot a high, medium, or low priority for ground checking. Ground check crews then visit newly detected spots giving first attention to high priority for ground check crew, is to see firsthand the extent of beetle activity in each spot and to determine if further tree killing is likely to occur. This handbook shows how to recognize various stages of SPB attack, how to decide if control is needed, and how to mark buffer strips for control crews.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgements
• Locating SPB Spots From Ground Level
• How to identify SPB Attacks
• Other Bark Beetles
• Seasonal Variation in Attack Symptoms
• Stages of Beetle Attack During theSummer
• Stage 1 - pines with fresh attacks
• Stage 2 - pines with developing SPB broods
• Stage 3 - pines killed and vacated by SPB
• Collecting spot expansion data
• Using the control priority guide
• A word on control priorities
• The buffer strip
• Checklist
• Glossary

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