heavy feeding, the damaged areas merge and may girdle and kill seedlings up to 1 
cm in diameter. The seedling may be completely stripped, leaving a bare, curled 
stem surrounded at the base by a pile of detached needles. Adults may feed on 
terminals and twigs on large trees. Damage is not serious although the ends of 
branches may be killed. In Christmas tree plantations, twig feeding may deform. 
trees thus lowering their value to the extent of the damage (242). 
Damage to young pines in cutover areas can be minimized by cultural practices. 
In the South, land cutover and site prepared before July can be planted the 
following winter without weevil damage. Weevils leave these areas before the 
planting season. In areas cut or site prepared in July or later, planting should be 
delayed | year. In the North and in the southern Appalachians, the waiting period 
should be | to 2 years. When delay of planting is undesirable, seedlings should be 
chemically treated (934, 938, 1140, 1242). In the South where stands are to be 
established by direct seeding, no delay is necessary because weevils will have left 
the area before seedlings are large enough to become suitable food. In the North, a 
l-year delay of direct seeding may be necessary. 
There are six ways to prevent or control pales weevils in Christmas tree planta- 
tions: (1) delay planting | to 2 years if land was previously used for Christmas 
trees, (2) treat seedlings with insecticide, (3) remove stumps in spring, (4) treat 
stumps in spring with insecticide, (5) spray trees with insecticide from mid-August 
to mid-September to control weevil feeding on branches, and (6) leave a whorl of 
live branches on the stump to keep the stump alive and unattractive to weevils (242, 
938). 
The pine root collar weevil, H. radicis Buchanan, breeds in the root collars of 
healthy pines in southern Canada from Newfoundland to Manitoba and in all of the 
Northeastern States south to Virginia and west to Minnesota. Of its hosts, Scotch 
pine seems to be the most severely damaged; but jack, red, Austrian, eastern white, 
pitch, and Swiss mountain pines are also attacked. The adult (fig. 148) is dark 
reddish-brown to black. It lacks the line or spot of pale scales on the head that H. 
pales has. The body is marked with irregular patches of white to yellow hairlike 
scales, and the elytra have longitudinal rows of elongated indentations. It is a larger 
weevil than H. pales—its body length ranges from 9.5 to 13.0 mm (4/6). 
-F-488105 
Figure 148.—Adult of the pine root collar weevil, 
Hylobius radicis. 
324 
