Brookfield Homeowners: Check Your Pine Trees for This Unwelcome Invader

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) recently announced that the southern pine beetle (SPB) has been found in Connecticut. The tiny insect is only about 1/8 of an inch in length but does extensive damage to pine trees once it bores its way into the bark of a tree, according to the CT DEEP.

Until recently, it was only found in the southeastern states, but in 2009 it was found in New Jersey Pine Barrens. In 2014 it showed up in extensive pine stands on Long Island and in 2015, it was found in Connecticut.

This beetles are economically devastating for commercial growers and Christmas tree farmers. Beetles that bore into the bark of pine trees and feed on the inner bark so by the time the outside of the tree shows signs of infestation, it is already too late.

Four sites in New Haven County and one in Litchfield and Hartford counties have been confirmed positive for the southern pine beetle.

“If the attack is successful, the beetles lay eggs under the bark, the larvae then feed on the circulatory system of the tree, and kill the tree in one to two years,” entomologist Kirby Stafford of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) said in a statement.

If you see pines with a popcorn-like resin on the outside of them, please contact CAES at ctstateentomologist@ct.gov. or 203 974-8474.

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Photo: CT DEEP