I cut down a tree that was infested with pine borer beetles. I don't want the beetles to infect other trees. Unfortunately, I can't burn the infested wood. And I don't have anywhere to haul the infested wood. What's the best solution?
According to this link from the city of Vernon,which is whimsically located in the "lifestyles" section
- each beetle infested tree contains enough beetle brood to infest between three and eight healthy trees in up to 20 generations per year.
- Beetle infested trees cannot be used for firewood, transported or stored for any length of time unless they are debarked. Infested bark should be chipped or buried to ensure beetle brood are destroyed.
- Landfill: some facilities will accept it, check your local site.
- Selling: Landowners wishing to sell their timber should contact a log buyer or forestry professional for advice. Look in the Yellow Pages under “Logging Companies & Contractors”, “Logging Services”, and “Tree Service”.
Other sites indicate that
- the act of taking down the tree will stir up adults causing them to leave.
- as a general rule you don’t want to leave a fallen tree laying around which is infested with pine bark beetles. They will quickly start to leave and nearby trees will become immediate targets and new homes. It is important to have the tree taken away, mulched or burned immediately upon being cut. There have been too many cases of trees which look to be OK turn out having hundreds and thousands of adults start leaving it once it has been cut down. These migrating adults are then able to relocate and start their infestations all over again.
- dispose of the tree completely. Burning works well and mulching does a good job as well. The last thing you want to do is keep the logs laying around intended to become firewood for the next winter. This would be a big mistake. Since the adults and larva will start leaving this now dead and dehydrating lumber you should never keep and store any of the infested wood around the home. Get rid of it any way you can.