By Clint Thompson
Ambrosia beetle control this time of year is crucial for pecan producers in Georgia and Alabama. Young trees are most susceptible, as are those that are growing under stressed conditions.
Apurba Barman, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus, is highlighting the insect’s management during the county winter meetings.
“We started to see them once the temperatures started going up,” Barman said. “Anywhere from 60 to 70 degrees (Fahrenheit), I think that’s when they started to come out, and we have already captured them in our traps. You should be keeping an eye on the traps until mid-April or all the way to early May.
“The key is if somehow the trees get stressed. That’s the key. Young trees obviously, it takes time to get established so they can get more stressed than already established trees. But all those other established trees, if they start to have some nematodes or some root diseases, that’s another indication where they start showing the stress symptoms or release this ethanol that the beetles are going after.”
While the beetles are mostly attacking young trees, they have been infesting trees as old as 8 or 9, says Barman.
Toothpick-Sized Sawdust Tubes
Producers have the necessary insecticides to successfully manage the insects, they just need to know when their trees are being attacked. Farmers can identify beetle activity by the toothpick-sized sawdust tubes that beetles leave sticking out of holes bored into trees.
Growers should use bifenthrin and spray the lower half of the tree, 3 to 4 feet from the ground level. If producers do this a couple of times to the first week of May, they should be protected from ambrosia beetles.