DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A bug smaller than your fingernail is attacking some of the tallest trees in the metro area.
Arborists say it’s a bad year for southern pine beetles.
"(They) could be small, could be big. They attack them all,” UGA Arborist Gary Peiffer said. %
%
Peiffer works out of the DeKalb County Ag Extension office, where they’re watching out for the beetle.
"You wouldn't even notice them on the tree. You would just see their damage, which is big globs of sap coming out of your tree. Looks somebody took bubble gum and stuck it all over your tree.” Peiffer said.
It’s enough of a problem that the city of Brookhaven issued an alert and put out a flier.
Fully grown, the bug is no more than an eighth of an inch long, but enough of them can kill a 100-foot pine.
They bore right through the bark, and release a fungus which blocks the flow of water and nutrients up the tree, essentially starving the tree to death.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Teacher creates 'no-homework' homework policy
- Child in critical condition after parents' murder-suicide
- Driver to face charges in fatal Henry County wrecke
One sign of an infestation is the needles turning brown. Some arborists say it’s the worst they’ve seen in 10 years, and they blame it on the drought.
The lack of rain stresses trees, and the beetles know which ones are weaker. A weak tree can be dead in a week.
"Once they kill the tree they leave it pretty quick," Peiffer said.
Arborists say insecticides can protect a pine, but once the beetles get in the only solution is to cut the tree down.
Cox Media Group
