White Pine Weevil

The weevils are often hard to see, but their damage is easy to spot. The adult weevils are light reddish-brown with several patches of white on the wing covers. The adults have a long snout-like beak from which arise elbowed antennae. The White Pine weevil overwinters in the adult stage hiding in white pine and spruces, occasionally sometimes the Douglas-fir. In the Western States, this pest is known as the Englemann spruce weevil and Sitka spruce weevil. In early spring, usually early to mid-April, the adult females climb to the leaders of trees and feed through small holes chewed in the bark. This feeding causes sap to run down the leader. Eventually, the females will insert eggs into these feeding wounds. The larvae hatch in about a week and feed just below the bark. The larvae continue to feed downward and in doing so the shoot is killed as they go. The larvae mature and pupate in mid-July. The pupae rest in cells carved into the central wood and lined with sawdust. The adults emerge in late July and early August. The new adults feed on the upper tree branches, making small puncture wounds. As winter approaches the adults return to the dormant stage to hibernate. The White Pine Weevil is controlled through human intervention intended to kill both adult and larval stages of the pest. Chemical Pesticides are generally used to eliminate the pest but other options include removing the breeding area from a specific tree, and removing already infected parts of the tree with hopes that the pest will not return.

Sugar Maple Borer