Bug of the
Month: Eastern Larch Beetle
This bug is my nemesis. The new house I just put in has some beautiful 40 and 50 foot larch trees (aka. Tamarack) that is small beetle attacked and killed this summer. They go after trees that are under stress by boring under the bark and eating all the cambium layer of the tree. The cambium is the life of the tree, without it the tree dies.The beetle is less than a quarter inch in length and makes small 1/10” entrance holes in the bark. Feeding results in a reddish brown fine sawdust around the holes. Eventually sap begins to seep out the holes and drips onto the ground. The tree starts dieing from the bottom to the top.
There is no real control for this pest although there is a pheromone that is thought to attract the adults away from desirable trees. The wood of the tree is not affected and it can be used for lumber.
Larch is one of our hardest soft wood species of trees and prefers wet soils. It does not compete well with other trees.