White-pine weevil attack: susceptibility of western white pine in the Northeast

Abstract

Heights were measured and white-pine weevil (Pissodes strobi (Peck)) attacks were recorded on 668 western white pines (Pinus monticola Douglas) interplanted among 109 eastern white pines (Pinus strobus L.) in a 10-year-old plantation in southern Maine. Less than 13 percent of the western white pines were successfully attacked (leader killed) by the weevil. Weevils killed the leader on 63 percent of the eastern white pines. Eastern white pine was the taller of the two species, but 3 open-pollinated families of western white pine from New York-grown parents and 1 of 12 familes from Idaho-Montana parents were nearly equal to or surpassed eastern white pine in height. Selection and seed collections from the proper seed sources or parent trees of western white pine could produce trees that grow rapidly and are low or moderate in susceptibility to weevil attack. These could be planted instead of eastern white pine in areas of the Northeast with high weevil populations.