Hemlock trees in western Nova Scotia infested with hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) are starting to die off. As the bug moves eastward across the province, pesticides have been the only tool to save infested trees
This has changed.
Researchers from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) have just released a beetle -- naturally local to British Columbia (BC) -- called Laricobius nigrinus that are natural predators to HWA.
Called "biocontrol", this initial release is a pilot project to gauge whether the beetles will be a viable, long term, natural solution to managing HWA in Nova Scotia.
The beetles were recently collected in BC by NRCan researchers. In the fall of 2024, the researchers will evaluate the winter survival rates of the introduced beetle to see how they have established, and their impact on HWA populations.
If you would like to learn more about the release or biocontrol, please see :
- Global News coverage of the beetle release (the video is helpful) : https://globalnews.ca/news/10063787/hemlock-woolly-adelgid-nova-scotia/
- An overview of Biocontrol : https://nshemlock.ca/node/276
- A deeper dive into Biocontrol : https://nshemlock.ca/sites/nshemlock.ca/files/Biological%20Control%20of%20HWA%20in%20Eastern%20Canada.pdf