Thanks. The wolly adelgid problem is very important to me and I appreciate any and all updated info.

--Spruce

Ditto here... got several nice large ones! Thanks for the info!!

I live near one of the release sites of the beetle that was supposed to help with the problem. I'm hoping the beetles make it here in time, I have 2 large hemlocks that are critical to my rhododendron garden plans.
They seem to be holding up but are definitely infected. Has anybody found an update on whether the beetle are actually making a difference where they were released?

(northern Maryland)

To clarify, I know this article discussed the situation there, but the beetles were released all over the East Coast so I wondered if they were having success anywhere...

Hmm, I wonder what those beetles look like. Our 4 large hemlocks have not been attacked so far (except by the wind beating them up a bit). But no adelgids here!

I hope I didn't just jinx myself. lol

Laricobius nigrinus has just been released since about 2005 or so, and its already looking better than the first beetle species from Japan released many years ago for control, but time will tell. Its still gloomy. Lets see how this works in 5 years or so.

I agree. I also think it's a better bet to just start spreading the adelgid-resistant trees around instead.

Since this tree fills an important part of my life, more so than any other tree, I have been keeping a close watch - and this article is the first I have seen that even mentioned the fact that resistant trees might have been found. As recently as 2006 it has been said by the most respectable and vital forestry organizations that no resistant trees had been identified. It has been know for a long time that individual trees may decline in different rates and dieing trees can be found in even almost completely dead stands- this only proves that there is great variation in the rate of death within a stand, and thatÂs not resistance. Despite what this article said, I am far from convinced that what they mentioned is not more than simply the variable speed of mortality already observed.

I agree with fledgling: With some tree diseases in the past, some resistant strains have been found. But this is not a disease as such, but an insect, which I think makes this idea of resistance a little less likely, but perhaps not impossible. I have had an intense interest in this problem for some time and I have never heard of any resistant trees. The speed at which some trees die is in all likelihood related to the vigor of the individual trees when attacked and nothing else.

And even if a resistant strain were found, I am not sure what hope that would offer for replacing the natural forest stands--it might be of some interest to conifer collectors, but then they can spray their individual trees anyway.

For a resistant strain to be propagated and spread to replace all the dead natural stands would take hundreds of years if not a thousand or more. Many of my hemlocks are 3 or 4 hundred years old--how does finding a resistant strain do anything to replace these? We had better go full force ahead with the kind of biological control these beetle releases represent and not put hope into some resistant strain appearing.

So far I have not heard anything to make me think any success is coming soon, but in some limited controlled experiments these beetles do eat the adelgids. Getting them established in the natural environment so they can offer any protection to existing stands is quite another thing. They are doing beetle releases very near my timberland, but so far the results are so unpromising that the MD forest service is, with every management plan they develop for landowners in the region, advising that timberland owners consider harvesting hemlocks before they die. That indicates that the MD forest Service has little hope as of now.

Some people are concerned about some collateral damage these beetles may do to the environment--this is the reason the work with these beetles was delayed for so long. This is a legitimate concern, but on the other hand, the loss of all the hemlock trees will have some profound negative effects on the environment. These negative effects are not speculation or theory, but quite real and present. I am not sure what studies have been done, but in my timberland I can imagine that there are many living species that will be lost if the hemlock stands die. The environment in and under these stands is quite different from that in and under any other timber stands. I am sure these stands also affect the temperature of the water in the streams that run through them. So I am fuly behind the beetle release programs, and I am just a bit angry that it took so long for them to be approved in the face of such devastation to our forests.

--Spruce

Here is a link I found showing what the beetles look like.. so we know to leave them alone!

Here is a link that might be useful: Adelgid-eating beetle