white spruce bark borer

[dylanclimbs]

We look after some large white spruce trees here in Calgary, Canada. The property is right beside a major roadway and the Picea glauca in question is roughly 80' tall with a dbh of a foot and a half. We have removed three other glaucas in the yard in the last three years. Each tree had small holes bored through the bark, with galleries and mines throughout the bark layer. The cambium was damaged but whatever the insect was it did not bore past the cambium layer. Now the problem is that the glauca in question is a beautiful tree which the property owner wishes to keep, not to mention that the tree has been around for a century or more. I know everything has its time, but is there a treatment? It is some kind of bark borer, im not sure if its a beetle or a wasp. Can someone help me identify the pest?

 

[Marc_H]

It sounds like Ips, a bark beetle that is often called an Engraver Beetle or Spruce Ips. It's common in the Rockys and is similar to Mountain Pine Beetle.

You may also find the blue stain fungi in some of the trees.

 

[Kevin]

We have that here in Ontario.
The beetle lays eggs in bark crevices and from that a larvae emerges.
The larvae is about one inch in length and is white in colour.
These trees can be dangerous to climb because the wood will fracture from hole to hole.
The spruce trees I've seen have lost or begin losing their bark.

Could be the sawyer beetle...
http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/subsite/glfc-ofpi/whitespotted-sawyer-beetle

http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/images/2383

 

[dylanclimbs]

hey awesome info, thanks guys...ive been reading up on it and discussing it with the bossman and thought i could use some outside opinions.