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Show MUCH DAMAGE BY TWIG GIRDLER Voting Trees More Susceptible to Injury Than the Older Ones-Insects Ones-Insects Hard to Find. The twig girdler is a beetle belonging belong-ing to the family of long horned beetles. It is a little over one-half inch in length. The ground color is a brownish gray with yellow dots and a broad characteristic band of gray across the wing covers. It is the adult female beetle which does the girdling. Beginning in August Aug-ust and continuing through the early fall, she proceeds with her uninvited task of pruning trees. After selecting a twig suitable for her endeavors, she begins making punctures, usually one puncture at the base or each branchlet or young bud, and deposits an oval whitish egg. She then i treats tn point between (be m ' ' proximal egg and the origin of the twig and proceeds to girdle the branch, cutting through the bark and the cambium in the characteristic manner. This girdling causes the twig to die, thus offering food for the young larvae. The twig is soon broken off by the wind or some other cause and falls to the ground, where decay sets-in sets-in and the larvae have ideal conditions condi-tions for growth and development. The larvae does not complete its growth in the fall, but after feeding for a time it hibernates, completing its growth and transformation to an adult beetle the following season. x The adult beetles, because of their dull colors and general habits, are very hard to And or catch. The beetle dies In the fall, and therefore we must fight this insect in the egg and larvae stages. The method recommended recom-mended is to gather and bury all tall-en tall-en twigs and the girdled twigs not yet fallen. This destroys the eggs and larvae that would develop into next season's brood. w |
