Question
I live in the eastern foothills of Colorado. The beetle kill is slowly moving towards our area. In an attempt to mitigate this damage, we as a HOA are looking for ways to hopefully limit this. I was wondering if there was a method to atomize some sort of anti-microbial into a containment envelope that may kill the accompanying fungus that kills the tree. Or if there is a topical application that could be sprayed on the surface that would work its way into the porous hole made by the beetle. If we could save trees already infected by the fungus it may have wide reaching benefits.

Thank you for the help.

Chris

Answer
I assume you are taking about the Pine Mountain Beetle. These insects attack a pine and construct egg galleries under the bark all the way around the trunk. This girdles the cambium layer (layer of living cells that transport water to the foliage). The beetles also have a fungi growing on them that will help stop up the pores on the tree speeding up the cutting off of the water, etc. The girdling of the beetles will kill the tree without the fungi present so attacking the fungus will be of no help in saving trees.
There are insecticides that can be sprayed on the tree trunk that will prevent the beetles from attacking the trees. Need to wet the trunk with the insecticide solution.  This works well in a Homeowner situation. IF the population of beetles is close --nearby dying pines I would recommend that the pines be sprayed with an insecticide called Onyx. This is sprayed on the entire trunk up into where the branches are attach as far up the trunk as possible. This will prevent the beetles from attacking for the season. Once the beetles have constructed the galleries the tree will not survive so the trees will need to be sprayed before the beetles infest the pines.

Here is a web link to more information on Onyx. http://www.lesco.com/?PageID=81%26MenuItemID=5%26SubMenuItemID=78%26P=lesconews/...