Pine Wilt Disease Management

There are two main options for pine wilt disease management. You can manage the actual disease and take preventative steps against it, or you can manage the nematode and prevent it from infesting your exotic pines. Here’s a look at both options to help determine the best for you.

Managing Pine Wilt Disease

There are new cures known for the actual disease, so you need to take steps to prevent it from occurring. Once you have a tree infested with nematode, you will need to take steps to avoid it spreading to more. The best step is to not plant any exotic pines where the temperatures reach 70F or higher. If there are already exotic pines, good watering will help to prevent the disease from taking hold. Management during infestation is through chipping and removing the infested trees to protect the ones nearby. You want to take steps to avoid the nematode infecting the trees.

Managing Nematode Prevention

Preventing nematode is best done through avoiding sawyer pine beetles burrowing into trees and laying their eggs. It’s the beetles that carry the disease, after all. Removing the bark from exotic pines after felling is an option to help prevent this. Any trees that have been killed by pine wilt disease need to be removed immediately. The infested wood should be burned and destroyed immediately, and shouldn’t be saved for firewood. However, due to practices in fumigating wood chips, it is possible to use formerly diseased pines as wood chips for landscaping without danger.
Remove all stumps that sit above ground level. Don’t let the beetles emerge in May time the next year to avoid further infestation of exotic pines around.
A professional tree surgeon will help you take the best course of action for your exotic pines to prevent and manage pine wilt disease.