They have two distinctive whitish spots on the wing covers near the end of the body. Adults emerge from the trees through exit holes they make in the trunk and feed on the inner bark of twigs and small branches throughout the summer. Adults remain reproductively inactive until they fall. Heavy feeding by adults may kill some shoots, leaving dead spots in the crown and slightly degrading Christmas trees. Heavy infestations may kill seedlings.
Adult weevils are only active after dark.
Treat the entire nursery or plantation if seedlings show any injury or if older trees have five or more flagged tips per tree. Infestations lighter than this do not need control, because most flags will fall off before harvest. Insecticides used to control the Nantucket pine tip moth may or may not reduce weevil numbers. Treatments applied when adults appear in the fall may reduce reproductively active and egg-laying females, but earlier treatments should be applied primarily to prevent twig and seedling damage. Larval control i9 difficult using insecticides alone.