TreeLines
September 2023 – 2nd Edition
Pine Tip Moth: What You Need To Know
During our “Making Sense of Reforestation: Your Questions Answered Live” webinar on September 12th, we had lots of great questions covering a wide range of forestry topics.
We thought we would share some of those in the coming editions of TreeLines.
Will pine tip moth damage, permanently affect tree form, and how long are they active?
There is a common pest that affects loblolly and shortleaf pine stands in the southeastern United States – the Nantucket Pine Tip Moth.
Tip moths can range from as far north as Massachusetts to the south end of Florida and west into East Texas. They will have four to five life cycles throughout a year, and the first noticeable sign of an attack is the yellowing and dying of the buds on the stems and the top of the seedling or sapling.
The pine tip moth usually attacks and lays its larvae, which burrow into the tip, the apical bud of the stem. Once the bud has died, if you break it off, you can see where the pupae have fed and killed that bud. This condition is rarely fatal, and new buds will take over and become the main bud on the stem.
Vigorous seedlings will outgrow this quicker, thus emphasizing the importance of higher, faster-growing genetics like ArborGen’s MCP®.
You can have as many as five outbreaks per growing season or five attacks throughout a growing season from the life cycles of the pine tip moth.
One critical misconception is that the pine tip moth will affect the quality of the stem or the form of the tree and that it’s going to cause a fork tree or it’s going to cause a tree with multiple stems. Once a pine tree reaches a ceiling height of about 12 to 15 feet, the tip moths move on, and they move on to smaller and shorter trees.
Your Reforestation Advisor can help you determine the right genetics for your land, providing you with faster growing, greater volume, and more disease-resistant trees. Contact them for more information.
Introducing the Seedling Revenue Comparison Tool
Open-pollinated (OP) or MCP®? Should I plant all OP, all MCP or some of both? What will it cost and what will be my return?
Try out our Seedling Revenue Comparison Tool and see for yourself!
What’s Happening at Your ArborGen Nurseries?
Your nursery teams are keeping a watchful eye and caring for your new crop of seedlings. Ever wonder what top clipping looks like? Watch the video below.
Client Results
24′ at 6th Growing Season
Atlantic Coast North MCP® Advance
Essex County, VA
2nd Growing Season
MCP® Select Piedmont
McCormick County, SC
Updated Seedling Availability
Austin Heine
North Carolina & Virginia
910-660-3209
Greg Hay
Arkansas, Northern Louisiana, & Oklahoma
501-350-4217
Paul Jeffreys, Ph.D.
Alabama & Northern Mississippi
Manager Special Projects & Sustainability
205-712-9582
Drew Fasano
South Carolina & Northern Georgia
843-520-6865
Blake Sherry
Florida, Southern Georgia, & Southern Alabama
912-433-5407
Kylie Burdette
U.S. Sales Manager / East Texas and Southern Louisiana
864-650-4454
Jason Watson
Director, U.S. Sales
404-840-7489
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