The insect causes the pitch to flow from wounds on the trunk near branch whorls on Scots and Austrian pine. When feeding damage is severe at all the crotches at a particular whorl of branches, the trunk may break off at that whorl. Feeding damage at the base of branches can girdle and kill the branch, even major branches.

On Eastern white pine, this insect is a tip borer, tunneling through new shoots, causing dieback of branch tips.

Life Cycle

Eggs hatch in late summer (August) into caterpillars that wander across the bark, eventually spending the winter under a flap of bark. In the early spring (April) they emerge and wander again across the bark before tunneling through the bark into the trunk or major branches of Scots and Austrian pine. Through the spring and summer, the caterpillar feeds as a borer, pupates, and then emerges as a moth in late summer.

Management

Prune out damaged wood. If necessary use a recommended insecticide. Control may be done in spring when saucer magnolia is in pink bud to early bloom or in mid to late summer when panicle hydrangea is pink.