We read something about controlling pine beetles in one of your back issues and can not find it again. We are wondering if anyone has a method to control these little monsters?

-- Cathy Yungewaelter (paczcatz@wmonline.com), September 08, 2000

Answers

I'm in the middle of Pine beetle heaven, and lose quite a few trees (cumulative half acre a year) each year. The only cure is to cut, pile and burn infected trees. Or, don't grow pine trees. I've had em kill trees in my yard. This spring I woke up one morning and had half a million "in" my house. A tree was infected twenty feet away, they swarmed, and crawled into every window crack, under every door...

I studied under a professor at SFASU in Nacogoches, Tx, and keep up with his studies. The official cure is to cut all infected timber, cut surrounding timber, pile and burn. Which is pretty draconian for a small landowner. Or, if you have just a small grove of pines, or individual trees.

-- phil briggs (phillipbriggs@thenett.com), September 09, 2000.