Insect Damage to Field-Piled Pulpwood in Northern Minnesota

Abstract

Several species of wood-destroying insects were collected and reared from balsam fir and black spruce pulpwood piles. Greatest losses were caused by species of Monochamus , especially scutellatus (Say). Volume loss from these insects ranged from less than 0.1% after one season of feeding to nearly 5.0% after two seasons of feeding. The results of various types of piling showed that compact standard piles have less damage than loosely piled pens. Piles of either kind stacked in the shade of standing trees are attacked far less readily than those stacked in sunlit clearings and, consequently, have far less damage.