Abstract
Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) in a 20‐year‐old plantation in northern Vermont, USA, were inoculated with the pinewood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) in 1987. To determine how long B. xylophilus would survive after inoculation, the trees were periodically observed and sampled for the nematode up to the end of 1993. The nematode was still found to persist in living, healthy‐appearing pines 6 years after inoculation.