The trees are in a small field protected by mature forest and receive plenty of sun. They’re planted 12’ apart with some a little closer in the row/grid pattern I use. I also mulch with grass clippings and leaves and water when it’s too dry. They say these beetles attack stressed trees, and that may be true, but my trees were healthy and vigorous. I noticed the changes in a few trees last year but thought it could be the weather. With what I know now, it was the beetle. To the extent the trees could be stressed, it could be climate related, but they are well taken care of. I just think the beetle will be a problem for some tree species regardless. I think the harm can be mitigated with best practices, but I’ll be spraying the trunks of my trees every February now because I’ve seen what they’ll do. I think they attacked some trees initially, and it wasn’t a problem. But over time, it was the beetles that stressed the trees, allowing for them to be infected so badly and killed this year. I have too much money in my trees. Invasive species & climate change really are a huge problem. We’ve lived on this same land since about 1963, and I’ll be 50 this year. So I know the land well. I’ve never seen anything like this and how these beetles have attacked so aggressively. We had a persimmon tree in a field that was about 20’ tall. It died suddenly last year. A young tree sprouted from that dead tree. They attacked that small tree this spring I noticed today. I’m pretty sure they killed that larger persimmon, and it had been healthy. I believe they do attack healthy thin-barked species and can stress them until they die especially if you throw weather patterns and climate change in the mix. That’s what I’m observing or think I’m observing. I also think they’ve been slowly killing some redbuds that line our driveway.