What's eating my pinyon pine?

Pinyon Pine is most seriously damaged by the pinyon ips bark beetle, which has killed millions of trees during drought. Pinyon needle scale, twig beetles, and tip moths also attack. Mule deer browse seedlings, and jays and squirrels consume the prized pine nuts before harvest.

Pitch tubes on trunk, red-brown needles, rapid whole-tree death; drought-stressed trees most vulnerable; mass outbreaks can decimate stands Keep trees healthy with deep watering during drought; remove and chip or burn infested trees promptly; avoid mechanical wounds; lindane or permethrin bark sprays on high-value trees before attack begins

Yellow stippling then browning of needles; white waxy scale bodies on needle bases; heavy infestations cause needle drop and branch dieback Horticultural oil spray in early spring when crawlers are active; systemic imidacloprid soil drench for high-value landscape trees

Resin-coated nodules at branch tips; tip dieback and distorted growth on young shoots Prune and destroy infested shoot tips in late winter before adults emerge; no chemical control typically needed

Cones stripped at maturity; seeds cached far from parent tree; near-total crop loss in some years Harvest cones as soon as they begin to open; wire-mesh cage individual branch clusters; accept partial wildlife loss as ecologically normal