How to control the Japanese pine sawyer beetle? A detailed guide to practical control techniques

The Japanese pine sawyer beetle (Monochamus alternatus), also known as the pine black longhorn beetle, is a major trunk-boring pest of pine trees. It occurs extremely commonly and causes severe damage in areas where pine trees grow. It not only kills pine trees but is also the main vector of pine wilt disease. Doing a good job of controlling the Japanese pine sawyer beetle is very important for protecting pine tree resources and the ecological environment. Let us take a look at the control techniques for the Japanese pine sawyer beetle below!

Domestic distribution

In China, the Japanese pine sawyer beetle is distributed in Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Fujian, Guangdong and other provinces. It mainly damages Masson pine, and secondarily damages fir, spruce, cedar, larch and other poorly growing trees or newly felled trees. In particular, pine trees whose growth has weakened after being damaged by the Masson pine caterpillar are heavily invaded by this insect, which very easily causes patches of pine trees to die.

Growth habits

The Japanese pine sawyer beetle has 1 generation per year locally, overwintering as mature larvae in the xylem of infested trunks. In late March of the following year, the overwintering larvae pupate in pupal chambers at the end of their galleries. Adults begin to emerge in mid-April, gnaw their way out through emergence holes, and feed on tender branches and bark to supplement nutrition, with May being the peak period. Adults are phototactic. After sexual maturity, they gnaw eye-shaped notches in the bark at the base of trunks or on thick branches, and then lay one to several eggs in them. The hatched larvae bore into the phloem, xylem and sapwood, tunneling out irregular galleries.

Control methods

1. Trapping with traps: Hang the trap between 2 pine trees with iron wire, with the lower end about 1.3 m above the ground. Place absorbent cotton in the lure vial, pour in the attractant, pour half a bucket of water into the insect collection container, and fix it to the funnel neck with iron wire. Traps are mainly set up in places within the forest where the air circulates relatively well, at intervals of 100-150 m. Observe once every 3 days and clean out the insect collection container, and replace the attractant once every 7 days.

2. Control with Beauveria bassiana: Beauveria bassiana (Beauveria bassiana) has strong pathogenicity against the Japanese pine sawyer beetle. When used together with a Japanese pine sawyer beetle attractant, the beetles, due to the effect of the attractant, gather on the pine trees around the deployment points during emergence and feed, becoming infected by the Beauveria bassiana in the non-woven fabric wrapped around the trunks, and then infecting other Japanese pine sawyer beetles, thereby achieving the goal of killing adult Japanese pine sawyer beetles.

3. Silvicultural control

① Manual clearing: Timely cut and clear dead trees, dying trees, and seriously damaged pest- and disease-infested trees in the forest land, so as to make it unfavorable for the Japanese pine sawyer beetle to reproduce and multiply, and do a good job of prevention and monitoring.

② Closing off hillsides for afforestation: Increase efforts to close off hillsides for afforestation, strictly control the harvesting of broad-leaved forests, gradually change stand structure, purposefully cultivate mixed forests, and improve the self-control capacity of the forest ecosystem.

③ Establishing mixed forests: Strictly control the tending intensity of planted forests, gradually transform even-aged forests and large-area pure forests into mixed forests and multi-layered forests, increase the variety of natural enemies of the Japanese pine sawyer beetle, and achieve ecological balance.

4. Chemical control

① Spray control: During the adult stage of the Japanese pine sawyer beetle, spray Lvse Weilei at 750-1200 ml/hectare on tree trunks and crowns, carrying out control respectively in the early emergence period and peak period of the Japanese pine sawyer beetle.

② Trunk injection: For famous ancient pines of special significance and pine trees that need protection, during the emergence period of the Japanese pine sawyer beetle, drill holes at the base of the trunk and inject Chongxianqing at 400 ml/hectare for protection.