Utah Juniper 2020

[August44]

You definitely can, really depends on the artist's desire, but most people do from what I have seen. I will probably remove the outer bark on this tree when I start to work on it, but it is on a wait and see basis at the moment.

Is there an insecticide that will kill them or no?

 

[Housguy]

Yes, more preventative treatment though I believe, basically timing the treatment when the beetles are active, to help deter them from your trees.

 

[August44]

Yes, more preventative treatment though I believe, basically timing the treatment when the beetles are active, to help deter them from your trees.

Guess I did not understand your answer. Is there an insecticide (systemic or otherwise) that works for this problem verses having to remove all of the bark? I would guess the beetles are active spring thru fall?

 

[Housguy]

Guess I did not understand your answer. Is there an insecticide (systemic or otherwise) that works for this problem verses having to remove all of the bark? I would guess the beetles are active spring thru fall?

Yes, I found this, hope this helps.
To prevent bark beetles from attacking your trees and bringing a fungus inside the wood you need to spray with an insecticide or use a systemic like Bayer All-in-One. There are a few variations of these products, including liquid and pellets. Rose & Flower All-in-One combines a low nitrogen fertilizer with neonicotinoid insecticide and a fungicide. The insecticide is supposed to kill beetles and other boring insects while the fungicide attacks the fungus infection.

The advice is to sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of the pellet version on top of your soil and then water. You’ll need to add more in a month or two because by watering every day the product will quickly be disolved.

Neonicotinoids are very effective against a lot of insects, but unfortunately are implicated in the mass death of bees. No final word on this yet, but it’s a good idea to be careful in how widely you use this product.