A scentsible approach to controlling southern pine beetles - Two new tactics using verbenone

Two new tactics for controlling southern pine beetle infestations use a bee tle-produced inhibitor: verbenone. The techniques, verbenone-only and verbe none-plus-felling, reduce tree loss by disrupting infestation growth. In th ree years of field tests, the verbenone-only tactic completely suppressed 6 9 percent of the treated infestations, and the verbenone-plus-felling tacti c suppressed 86 percent. The tactics provide much-needed alternatives to cu rrent control techniques and will allow suppression of infestations where t ree felling is restricted or prohibited. In anticipation of registration of the pheromone by the Environmental Protection Agency, a technology transfe r program has been developed to provide the materials and training necessar y for effective use of the treatments.