The dirty white, grayish, or pink larvae feed for several months, excavating a shallow cavity that penetrates the inner bark to the cambium surface of wood. After feeding, about one month is spent in the pupal stage. Before adults emerge, the pupae force about half of their length through the pitch surface. Although a few individuals may complete their development within a year, most sequoia pitch moths require 2 years to develop from egg to adult. The insect spends most of its life in the larval stage.
Moths prefer to lay eggs on bark near pruning wounds and other injury sites.
Carefully scrape away pitch masses to expose and kill larvae. No other control aside from minimizing injuries to trees is recommended because pines are not seriously harmed by this insect. However, such traps are primarily used to time the application of insecticides, and no effective insecticides have been found for controlling sequoia pitch moth. Cultural Control Small limbs infested with larvae and pitch masses can be pruned off, but this may lead to future infestations around the pruning wound. If pines must be pruned, prune only from October through February so that injuries begin to close before the egg-laying adults emerge in spring.