Database

Cut down trees damaged by wormwood as soon as possible

Habitat	Function	Type of work
Forest	High-quality timber	Bark beetle control

Biological techniques and tools should be preferred to prevent forest damage and to control its spread. The use of non-biological plant protection products on forest land is only allowed in justified cases.

Description of the action

In order to prevent damage to the bark beetle, groups of spruce damaged by wind, snow, excess water, etc. or broken by storms should be felled and removed from the forest as soon as possible before the bark beetle flies. The bark beetle starts its first flight in spring when the birches begin to leaf out and the second flight starts around mid-July. When the spruce trees have already dried out, the spruce bark beetles have left them, and their felling and removal from the forest has no effect on spruce bark beetle numbers.

Why?

Removing spruce trees that have been damaged by fresh wind, snow or excess water from the forest reduces the possibility of mass reproduction of spruce bark beetles. It is not necessary to remove every single damaged spruce from the forest, but if they already form a group (e.g. ten or more trees in close proximity), they should be removed. Cutting down and removing spruce trees that are already dry will not reduce the abundance of spruce bark beetles, as they do not feed or live in dry spruce trees. In many cases, the dry spruce trees are inhabited instead by spruce bark beetle entomophagus, insects that feed on spruce bark beetles.

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