Wednesday, May 24, 2017
How to Control Bark Beetles and what to do if your tree(s) get itI do not need to tell you about Bark Beetles and how they are slowly attacking all types of trees around the world. Here is Southern California, bark beetles have destroyed millions of trees with more coming.
So first off how do we tell if a tree has a bark beetle?
The signs are very clear, look around the base of the tree and see if you find shavings or a fine wood dust. This is what happens to trees when the mother bark beetle bores a small hole into the trunk of the tree.
I teach the laws of cause and effect. If you think the effect (the Bark Beetle) is the cause and you treat it as the effect, will it work? No!
So Simply by killing that bark beetle that is attacking your tree will not work. Why? Because more Bark Beetles will come and keep attacking that tree and any tree it deems appropriate to attack.
Therefore, the cause we need to understand is why the Bark Beetles are attacking in the first place. If you said it is because of the drought, you are only partly right.
Not all trees are being attacked by the Bark Beetle. They appear to handle the drought better?
The drought causes significant stress on trees and plants by reducing the amount of water they get., This, in turn, reduces their ability to assimilate nutrients and to then send it out throughout the tree. The trees also need water to make sap which they use for defense if they get attacked.
But the drought is not the real cause of the problem. The real cause is the top soil.
Damaging the top soil as we have been doing especially over the last 100 years or so, has made it impossible for trees to get the proper nutrients needed to stay active and healthy. The Bark Beetle or any other pest will not attack these trees and instead will look for the weak and sick trees. This is natural. Weak and sick trees become a food source for pests quickly followed by the diseases they bring.
City trees as well as homeowners trees, all have the same problem, lack of healthy top soil. Without this basic support system, the trees will get attack by whatever pests finds it a food source for them and their children.
Short term and long term solutions.There are always short term solutions and long term solutions. The long-term solutions deal with the real cause of the problem and usually takes time to correct. The short term solutions deal with what one can do not to help the trees. This means what to do to kill the Bark Beetle as well as to prevent more from attacking. I do not recommend using chemical pesticides. This only weakens the trees, and they eventually become more susceptible to these pests.
Here is a list of things you must do to keep your trees:Soil Care. Trees need living topsoil with Mycelium and the various microbial support system. You should be adding rock dust, compost, and an acid mulch. Do this several times per year. Most places there is no top soil left. Order a truckload of clean mix of clean (no sewer sludge) and soil. Add no more than a few inches each time you apply. You will then need to add a fresh mulch over it to protect it. The rock dust provides the mineral source. The compost provides the microbial life.
Hard Pan. In California where our soil is clay, we get hard pan when you water and then the heat comes and bakes it into a hard clay that neither water nor air penetrates. This is the primary reason why homeowners trees and city trees are dying. You will need to remove this hard pan if you want your tree to survive.
More on Hard Pan next column.Water. City water kills all microbial life in the soil. If you can afford it get a whole property filtering system. If you are like most of us and can not afford that (usually it’s around $10,000) then make sure you are adding compost once or twice a year to make up for this. It is better to underwater then overwater. It is better to provide deep watering than shallow watering. Trees need deep watering. If you have not been deep watering, the chances are that the tree will get hard pan and then get stressed and get attacked.
Mineral supply. A reduction in mineral produces the proper condition for pests to attack. The trees normally get minerals from the microbial life (Mycelium), remove this source, and you have stressed out trees. Stressed out trees become a natural food source for many types of pests and the diseases that follow. You can help the trees by providing for them these trace minerals by foliar spraying the minerals on their leaves which they absorb. You can also assist the trees by injecting into the soil the microbial life that is missing. But you still must address why the soil is getting damaged and correct that.
Chemical fertilizers. Avoid using chemical fertilizers with high nitrogen (they all are high nitrogen based). All organic fertilizers are low nitrogen based. High nitrogen reduces the tree’s ability to absorb minerals and causes rapid growth which of course, increases stress.
Citrus Oil Treatment. Treat any Bark Beetles present with citrus oil. There are two types on the market that I would use. One is called OrangeTKO and is a natural citrus cleaner but works great by injecting into the holes. A commercial version is called XT-2000. You must be a chemical operator to buy. This is also used for termite control as it also kills termites on contact.
any questions?
Email me at andylopez@invisiblegardener.com
Please check out my new book “Don’t Panic It’s Organic.” on my website. Anyone that emails me and mentions SurfsideNews and that you read my column will get the book sent to them free. This offer only good this one time.
thanks
andy Lopez
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