Dying pines and bark beetles
How to read a pine that's losing the fight, and what the forest service says to do.
When a yard pine starts to fade, bark beetles are one possible cause. The Texas A&M Forest Service publishes what to look for on the bark and what to do with a tree that's been killed.
The beetles
- Ips engraver beetles. Three native species in East Texas. The forest service says they usually succeed only against severely stressed pines, such as those recovering from a hard freeze, and that Winter Storm Uri in 2021 was a major stressor.
- Black turpentine beetle. Drawn to injured or weakened trees and fresh stumps, especially after serious drought, flooding, storms, wildfires or cutting. Attacks often, but not always, kill the tree.
- Ambrosia beetles and wood borers. The insects that first attack downed pines and logs after a storm, per the forest service's post-storm guide.
What to look for
- Pitch tubes: resin blobs on the bark. Ips tubes are scattered and look like popped popcorn; on badly stressed trees they may be small and dry, or missing.
- Large tubes low down: black turpentine beetle tubes are about walnut or half-dollar size, white to reddish, usually below six feet and on stumps.
- Dry inner bark: when scraped, a dry phloem layer is another sign of severe stress.
- Needles: the forest service warns that foliage color isn't reliable; large infestations can build before needles brown.
What the forest service advises
- Take down pines the beetles have killed, then burn the wood or get it off the property some other way before a new brood can leave it.
- If the bark hasn't started to slip, the trees may be salvaged and sold to recover some of the loss.
- Beetles overwinter in the trees and emerge in spring, so plan ahead of that.
- For black turpentine beetle, salvage-remove heavily infested trees; spraying lightly attacked trees with a permethrin or bifenthrin product usually works if they aren't badly weakened.
Spraying for hire needs a Texas Department of Agriculture pesticide license. Removing a dead pine is a tree removal; if it's near a wire, read power line trees first.
The forest service also notes that in East Texas, storm damage to timber has not caused southern pine beetle outbreaks. For pines stressed by storms or freezes, its guides point to the other beetles above.
Where these facts come from
- Texas A&M Forest Service: Winter Storm Uri continued tree impacts, pine tree mortality (2021)
- Texas A&M Forest Service: Forest Health, Black Turpentine Beetle
- Texas A&M Forest Service: Post Storm Forest Health Considerations
- Texas Department of Agriculture: Applying Pesticides to Lawns, Trees, Ornamentals
Checked October 27, 2026. Agencies and price guides update without notice; open the link before relying on a figure.
Common questions
How do I know if my pine has beetles?
Look for pitch tubes on the bark: scattered popcorn-like resin for Ips, larger walnut-size tubes low on the trunk for black turpentine beetle. The Texas A&M Forest Service says needle color alone isn't a reliable sign.
Should a beetle-killed pine come down?
The Texas A&M Forest Service advises removing standing beetle-killed trees and burning or otherwise disposing of them so beetles can't emerge.