TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Department of Agriculture is urging residents to remove dead pine trees in April to prevent the spread of disease.
Trees that are killed by pine wilt can become hosts to the pine sawyer beetle, which spreads the disease from tree to tree. The agency says pine wilt disease has been established in the eastern half of Kansas but can be controlled.
Plant pathologist Jon Appel says pine sawyer beetles typically emerge from dead trees in May and continue through July.
The Agriculture Department recommends removing and cleaning up dead pine branches more than an inch in diameter. Dead pine wood can be chipped and buried, or taken to landfills to be burned. But the chips should not be used as mulch on pine, or used as firewood.
