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NEW YORK - Tree experts believe they've found a new weapon against the voracious Asian long-horned beetle - a poison that's fatal to bugs when eaten.
Until now, the only way to fight the spread of the insect has been to cut down infested trees.
"This is very important news. This is a new substance to make war against the beetle," New York City Parks Commissioner Henry Stern said March 6, 2001. "We're calling it beetle juice."
The insect has destroyed 3,000 trees in New York City. Believed to have migrated in wooded crates from China, the beetles were first discovered in Brooklyn in 1996.
Stern said the insecticide - imidacloprid - was tested in Chicago, the only other city with a known infestation.
From April to June, the city and state parks departments and the U.S. Department of Agriculture will treat 8,200 trees in the city, about 4,000 trees on Long Island and thousands more trees throughout the state.
Canisters containing the insecticide, which is also used in flea powders and lawn treatments, will be inserted in holes in trees. The poison spreads through the trunk, branches and leaves, killing beetles that ingest it.
The beetles, usually between an inch or two long, are coal black with white spots and long antennae.
Females chew through bark to lay their eggs. When the larvae hatch, they feed inside the tree for more than a year. Eventually they tunnel out, boring holes in the trunks. Trees weaken and eventually die.
Stern said about half of New York City's 5 million trees are vulnerable to the beetles, which attack hardwoods such as maples, elms, birches, horse chestnuts and poplars.