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What are BeetleBlock Products?
Do they work?
So, how do they work
BeetleBlock™ Verbenone and BeetleBlock™ MCH are naturally occurring chemicals called pheromones. Pheromones are chemicals that insects and other organisms make and use to send signals or chemical messages to other members of the same species. Pheromones can have different effects on the behavior of insects. Some pheromones elicit attractive effects while others have repellant or deterrent effects. Bark beetles use both attractive (aggregation) and repellant (anti-aggregation) pheromones which attract or repel both males and females from the pheromone source. Beetles recognize these volatile pheromones through their sense of ‘smell’.
BeetleBlock™ Verbenone and BeetleBlock™ MCH are composed of the beetle’s own naturally occurring pheromones as an anti-aggregation (repellant) signal to communicate to other beetles to stay away from a tree or area. This can significantly reduce the probability that bark beetles will attack and kill your trees.
Many insects are specific to the trees they colonize. Pine beetles will usually only attack Pine trees and the Douglas-fir beetle will only attack Douglas-fir trees. BeetleBlock™ Verbenone, used for protection against the pine beetle, comes in a white plastic ‘pouch’ and is about the size of a thin deck of cards. BeetleBlock™ MCH, used for protection against the fir-beetle, comes as a plastic ‘bubble’ roughly the size of a silver dollar. These plastic membranes are semi-permeable and are specially designed to release their active ingredient, (pheromone) steadily over time into the surrounding area.
BeetleBlock™ products are registered with EPA and PMRA but are not like conventional pesticides, because they don’t kill anything. BeetleBlock™ products are of very low toxicity, they have minimal impact on the surrounding environment. BeetleBlock™ products are perfect for use around homes, recreational areas, riparian zones and parks.
Do they work?
Yes, they work. MCH and Verbenone are field proven and are based on research conducted by the US Forest Service, BC Ministry of Forests and other agencies over the last 20 years. These products are not like traditional pesticides. The active ingredients in BeetleBlock™ are natural products that are safe for humans, pets, and the environment. Since these chemicals have always been found associated with bark beetles, natural processes will degrade these chemicals once they have been released. Unlike traditional pesticides, BeetleBlock™ products leave no persistent residues.
So, how do they work?
Very simply, beetles attack trees in order to reproduce and to provide an environment for their young to feed and mature in over the winter months. It is critical to the survival of the young brood that the tree remains healthy for the duration of its stay under the bark of the tree. Before the beetle populations in the tree become so high that the tree would die before the new brood hatches, the beetles communicate using the pheromone MCH or Verbenone to signal to other beetles to find a new breeding site.
Beetle attack is a natural process and trees do have a defense mechanism, called ‘pitch out’ to protect themselves from beetle attack. Stress, drought, or serious beetle populations can be so overwhelming that these natural defenses are unable to prevent tree mortality.
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