The Pine Engraver Beetle, Ips pini (Say), is one of the most common and widely distributed bark beetles in North America. It occurs from southern Appalachia north to Maine and Quebec, westward across the northern United States and Canada, into the interior of Alaska, throughout the Pacific Coast States and the Rocky Mountain region, to northern Mexico.

In the western United States, the insect is a significant and frequent pest of ponderosa pine. In some localities it is also an important killer of lodgepole and Jeffrey pines and can be a serious pest in plantations of jack and red pines in the Midwest. In rare instances it may infest pinyon, Coulter, limber, sugar, western white, southwestern white pines, and probably most other pine species occurring within its range.

In most years, the pine engraver is not an aggressive tree killer, even though large populations commonly infest logging slash, windthrown trees, or trees broken by wind or snow. When populations are low, the beetle may kill or top-kill widely scattered single trees or small groups usually numbering less than ten. Often these trees have been previously damaged by wind, snow, fire, or lightning. In outbreak years they may kill groups of 50 to more than 500 trees, especially in unthinned young stands. Saplings and pole-sized trees averaging 5-8 inches in diameter are most commonly attacked. Larger trees are often top-killed with the lower bole uninfested or colonized by other species of bark beetles or wood borers.

 

 

 

RESOURCES:

IPS Beetle USFS FIDL #122 
Colorado State University Fact Sheet 
Wood Boring Insects of Trees & Shrubs 
 

 

FAQ

• Preventative Treatments:
  Preventative Spraying (Permethrin, Bifenthrin, Carbaryl), Pheromone Repellents (Verbenone w/ Ipsenol +50/-50), Tree Baiting, Pheromone Traps & Lures, Stand Thinning

• Post Attack Treatments:
  Removal of Infested Trees or Wood