Mountain
High Tree, Lawn, and Landscape Co. August ‘06
Mountain
High Tree, Lawn, and Landscape Co. August ‘06
2006 has once again seen significant activity of a potentially deadly insect that threatens our majestic Spruce trees. The Ips Beetle is an insect many people are unfortunately familiar with. Thousands of Spruce trees that once graced many of our landscapes have been reduced to ugly stumps that afford us nice obstacles to trip over during games of touch football. The responsibility is then placed upon those individuals who are lucky enough to still enjoy the company of these remaining woody giants. Trunk applications can help to safeguard against attack, which can be deadly in less than one season. Applications are performed to coincide with the flight periods of the adults. These flights occur twice per year in the spring and again in later summer.
Remedial care to ensure an overall healthy tree can also increase your trees’ own natural defenses. These steps include fertilization, water (in proper amounts), pruning to keep deadwood from accumulating, and reducing the secondary pests that enjoy making Spruce trees their home. Infested trees are especially harmful to surrounding trees as they provide an over wintering habitat for the hungry insects.
galleries and damage caused by Ips Beetle larva
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Identifying Characteristics |
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Identifying the injury: |
Needles of infected trees will turn from green to yellow to red to brown. Small, reddish-orange colored masses of resin, called pitch tubes, may be found on tree stems and branches. Pitch tubes are not always present, especially on trees that are severely stressed. The beetles leave small, 1/16" to 1/8", round holes in the outer bark. Reddish-orange to brown boring dust can be found in bark cervices and in the area underneath the tree. If the outer bark is removed, you can see the narrow Y or H shaped galleries. |
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Identifying the insect: |
Adult beetles are small, ranging in size from 1/8" to 1/5" long and are dark brown to black in color. Ips beetles can be distinguished from other bark beetles by several, small, spine-like projections found along back section of the insect. This back section is concave, not rounded like the back parts of other bark beetles. |
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Susceptible trees: |
The Ips beetles can attack any southern pine. The beetles prefer trees weakened by drought, lightning, flooding, and other types of stress such as root diseases. |
Life cycle changes of the
Ips beetle…egg to larva to pupa to adult
The many species of summer mites have descended upon us and our trees in great numbers. Spruce spider mite, Two-spotted spider mite, and Southern red spider mite have been found damaging nearly all deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs in the Denver area. Damage caused by mites is often difficult to notice, but don’t let that fool you as their impact is nothing to overlook.
Adults and eggs of Spider mite on Locust
Increasing the potential risk of mite outbreaks is their capacity to have several generations per year. Thus, a very low population level can quickly explode and cause severe leaf distortion and premature leaf drop. Several methods of control exist from synthetic chemicals and natural soaps and oils to biological controls (control achieved by deploying other predatory insects).
Well, if this is your first year in Colorado you can expect more of the same when it comes to precipitation in the summer. According to natural precipitation collections we are currently five to six inches below normal. I cannot stress enough the value of supplemental irrigation. This moisture allows roots to remain viable through the tough summer conditions, and when conditions improve these roots can once again become active.
With the cost of city water increasing exponentially, it is important to be wise about when to water, and what trees need the most attention. If you would like help in developing a water strategy please let us know, and one of our representatives will come out and discuss a plan of action.
The ease and convenience of lawn sprinklers. Set it and forget it.
But you really can’t. Heads settle, valves stick… Like anything else they need periodic adjustment or repair.
So every Spring, your system should be started and checked for proper operation. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself, Mountain High has a sprinkler department with highly experienced technicians.
A common question we get is “How long?” Pop-ups that supply a steady stream over an area need 21-24 minutes. Rotating heads need more time, 35-45 minutes to adequately cover an area.
During the rest of the season, visually check the heads for normal operation. If you see brown or thinning spots in the lawn, check to see that there is sufficient water in the soil. If the soil is dry, check your coverage and watering time! If there appears to be enough water, call us!
