He is called ‘Buchdrucker‘ and belongs to the genus of bark beetle. It is also called birch bark beetle. At the moment, the little Fiesling makes life difficult for us, because he works with verve on our trees and endangers the spruce stand. Instead of harvesting or preparing the harvest, we watch our trees. Once we recognize the signs, the affected tree must be felled.
Sequentially. He is considered a significant forest pest. Since he creates his breeding systems in the bark of the host trees, he is attributed to the bark breeders. In less hot years, the spruces manage to mobilize defenses and close the holes in the pest. In particularly hot years (2003 or 2018), this exceeds their strength and self-regulation fails. Then infested trees must be felled immediately and removed from the forest.
For us at the moment that means we have to focus our energy and attention on it. Clearly, this energy is missing elsewhere. From the (current) economic cycle ago, we can use the wood of the affected spruce well, because – due to heat – there are fewer elephant grass this year. The spruce comes into the wood chip production and fuels the stills.
Consequences in the market
At the wood market itself, the book printer has short-term and long-term consequences. In the short term, the price expires because a large amount of low quality lumber is available. In the long run, however, this is reversed because stocks are drastically falling. At some point, therefore, a supply shortage will arise.
With much goodwill one could understand the raid of the printer as a move of the nature. It is clear that the spruce is not a native tree at our altitudes. In addition, monocultures always carry a certain risk.
We will continue to look, closely observe our spruce trees and, if necessary, intervene quickly. Because a healthy forest is the basis for an intact nature.
