Insecticide for Wood Weevils
Wood weevils damage trees and shrubs by eating their wood. Some weevils bore holes into tree to lay their eggs, while others eat plant roots. Gardeners can use insecticides to help with wood weevils, but should exercise caution. Does this Spark an idea?
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Benefits
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Insecticides control wood weevil outbreaks when other controls, such as pruning of infected branches and planting pine trees densely, fail. They kill white pine weevils and other boring beetles.
Types
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Colorado State University Extension suggests using an insecticide that contains cyfluthrin, bifenthrin or permethrin to help treat the pine weevils that infect many trees. Imidacloprid also helps treat pine weevils when absorbed by the tree through the soil. Neem oil helps control root weevils when applied on the soil.
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Warning
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency explains that pesticides can harm wildlife and the environment when people use higher than recommended amounts of them. Runoff from insecticides can get into groundwater and pollute it, so make sure to use no more than the amounts that insecticide instructions recommend.
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References
- University of Minnesota Extension; Nuisance Wood Borders and Seed Insects in Homes; John F. Kyhl and Jeffrey Hahn; February, 2010
- U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service; White Pine Weevil; Abdul Hamid, Thomas M. ODell, and Steven Katovich; March, 1995
- Colorado State University Extension; White Pine Weevil; W. Cranshaw; January, 2008
- North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension Service: Common Sense Gardening Root Weevils
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Pesticides: Environmental Effects
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
