Ambrosia Beetles

Ambrosia Beetle

JULY 31, 2019 Pests & Diseases

Summertime and the livin’ is easy! Well… for creepy, crawly, buzzing, flying insects that is! In the peak heat of summer we see the widest variety of insects feeding on all kinds of living things, including our beautiful trees!

The Ambrosia beetle is “so hot right now” (Zoolander movie reference lol) and stressed trees are suffering from the way these pests make a living. We are currently seeing large amounts of ambrosia beetle activity!

Signs of the ambrosia beetle are:

• little sawdust “toothpicks” coming out of the tree
• weeping wet spot on trunk
• tunneling behavior
• defensive sap production

First, the ambrosia beetle finds a stressed tree to call home – they can actually smell chemicals that a stressed tree is putting off! The ambrosia beetle bores in and excavates tunnels in the tree, pushing out sawdust in toothpick-like formations. In these tunnels, the ambrosia beetle inoculates and later harvests the ambrosia fungus, which thrives on the nutrients from the tissue of the tree. Unfortunately, the ambrosia fungus clogs up the vascular system of the tree, slowing or stopping the flow of water and nutrients. This is often a deadly situation.

Sap oozing from a hole on a trunk is another signs that the tree is working to protect itself from the damage. It’s kind of like when your body creates pus to help heal a wound. Check out our Facebook and Instagram pages for pictures of the ambrosia beetle symptoms!

Heartwood can treat your trees for ambrosia beetle and help protect them from attack! Call us today to have a certified arborist survey your yard and protect your tree canopy! 704-525-3066