Hi guys,
I'm not sure what's going on with our new house we moved into last year, but there's obviously an infestation of some kind taking out these beautiful, mature loblolly pines I have in my yard. I'm not sure if they're pine bark beetles or what, but it looks like they chew a small hole in the bark slightly smaller than a dime. There's sap runs in numerous trees.
I've had an issue with carpenter ants before, but this doesn't look like ants (at least not that I can tell...could be wrong). I've treated with Bifen X/T, and it's helped mitigate the ant problem, but I'm not sure if the Bifen X/T will also handle beetles. I've sprayed around the base of the trees about 1 time every two months.
Once a loblolly goes brown at the top...is there any hope in saving it...or should you just cut your losses and eat about a $500/tree removal fee? :(
Here are a few pictures of whatever bug is eating my loblollys...