What attacks pine: pests and diseases the sources name

This page reports what the named sources say. It is not a diagnosis of any tree and does not say what should be done with one. Each row names its source, all read on October 9, 2026. Where this site has a full profile, the row links it, and the regulated status tables are on the linked pages and are not repeated here. Pines are covered species by species in tree species in the agency records, including loblolly pine, ponderosa pine, Scots pine and Corsican pine.

Insects

Agent	What the sources record
Mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae. Full profile	Kind: Bark beetle Hosts: The British Columbia government says the pine most often affected is lodgepole, mostly large and mature trees, with western white, whitebark and ponderosa pine also attacked, and that the beetle prefers mature trees over 80 years old. Where and status: Natural Resources Canada says it is present in most lodgepole pine forests of British Columbia, central and northern Alberta and isolated places in southwestern Saskatchewan, with the range expanding north and east. British Columbia says it is native to North America and that an outbreak from the late 1990s to 2015 destroyed millions of hectares of pine forest. Season: Natural Resources Canada says adults emerge between July and September and larvae spend the winter feeding under the bark. British Columbia says foliage turns yellow, then red by the spring after the attack, and most needles drop after two years.
Southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis. Full profile	Kind: Bark beetle Hosts: The University of Florida's EDIS calls the claim that it prefers loblolly over other pines unsettled, saying longleaf pines in a mixed stand are equally likely to be attacked and killed, and that most outbreaks have been in loblolly stands because those were widespread and densely planted. Where and status: EDIS gives a continuous range across 15 southern, southeastern and northeastern states, discontinuous from Arizona and New Mexico through Mexico to northern Nicaragua, and says it has expanded since 2014 into Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island. No regulated status is given. Season: EDIS says outbreaks occur almost exclusively in and around overstocked pine stands and that the beetle is rare outside outbreaks. It says what kills the tree is the mass attack by the beetles, not a fungus.
Pine engraver beetles, Ips species. Full profile	Kind: Bark beetles Hosts: Texas A&M Forest Service names three species that infest southern yellow pines: the eastern six-spined engraver, the eastern five-spined engraver and the small southern pine engraver. It says almost any pine of advanced age may be susceptible. Where and status: The page covers East Texas and gives no regulated status. It says engraver beetles do not usually kill a significant number of pines and breed mostly in fresh logging debris and weakened trees. Season: Activity is consistent year by year, and drought and other disturbances raise the chance of attack.
Pine-shoot beetle, Tomicus piniperda	Kind: Shoot-killing beetle Hosts: Forest Research says shoot killing by it can reach significant levels in Corsican pine. Where and status: The Forest Research entry covers Britain and gives no regulated status for it. Season: No season given on the page read.

Diseases

Agent	What the sources record
Dothistroma needle blight (red-band needle blight), Dothistroma septosporum. Full profile	Kind: Fungus of needles Hosts: Forest Research says it is mostly a disease of pines and has been found in the United Kingdom on Corsican, lodgepole, Scots, ponderosa and bishop pine. It says larches, firs, hemlocks, spruces and Douglas-fir appear to have low susceptibility. Where and status: Forest Research lists it as present in the United Kingdom and reportable in trade. Season: Symptoms are most apparent in June and July, when spores are released from the fruit bodies in the red bands on the needles.
Pitch canker of pine, Fusarium circinatum. Full profile	Kind: Fungus Hosts: Forest Research says it infects pines and can also infect Douglas-fir. Where and status: Forest Research lists it as not present in the United Kingdom and notifiable. It records the disease in 12 south-eastern US states and coastal California, in Mexico, Haiti, Chile, Japan and Korea, and in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, with France and Italy listed as eradicated. Season: No season given on the page read.

Agent

What the sources record

Dothistroma needle blight (red-band needle blight), Dothistroma septosporum. Full profile

Kind: Fungus of needles
Hosts: Forest Research says it is mostly a disease of pines and has been found in the United Kingdom on Corsican, lodgepole, Scots, ponderosa and bishop pine. It says larches, firs, hemlocks, spruces and Douglas-fir appear to have low susceptibility.
Where and status: Forest Research lists it as present in the United Kingdom and reportable in trade.
Season: Symptoms are most apparent in June and July, when spores are released from the fruit bodies in the red bands on the needles.

Pitch canker of pine, Fusarium circinatum. Full profile

Kind: Fungus
Hosts: Forest Research says it infects pines and can also infect Douglas-fir.
Where and status: Forest Research lists it as not present in the United Kingdom and notifiable. It records the disease in 12 south-eastern US states and coastal California, in Mexico, Haiti, Chile, Japan and Korea, and in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, with France and Italy listed as eradicated.
Season: No season given on the page read.

How the sources describe the effects

The sources do not agree on every point. Natural Resources Canada says the mountain pine beetle and its blue stain fungus act together to kill trees, with the fungi believed to stop water transport in the stem. EDIS says that for the southern pine beetle the blue stain fungi are not what kills the tree, and that they are harmful to the beetle larvae. The two pages are about different beetles, and each is reported here as written. Natural Resources Canada also says healthy trees are attacked once populations have grown and drought or other stress is widespread.

Forest Research says pitch canker causes extensive tree deaths, reduced growth and degraded timber, and names Scots pine as the group of greatest concern for Britain. It says that after harvest Corsican and lodgepole pine are usually followed by other species, because both are prone to Dothistroma needle blight.

Profiles on this site

The full profiles linked in the table are mountain pine beetle, southern pine beetle, Ips engraver beetles, Dothistroma needle blight and pitch canker of pine. The pine-shoot beetle has only the row above, because the page read gives too few separate facts for a page of its own. Conifer root and butt rot is on the Heterobasidion page.

Who the sources say to report to