Ambrosia beetle on paw paw

This tree was going into third leaf. My best growing one. I took a paper clip and jammed it into the 5-6 holes they made. Is the tree a goner for sure?

Should I leave it alone?
Should I cut above the graft and hope it makes a shoot?
Would the fungus be in the soil and I can’t plant another tree there?

I’ve never had them on pawpaw, but had a ton of figs get hit one year. The ones I cut all recovered, the ones I injected various insecticides into the holes didn’t do as well, maybe 30-50% eventually died completely. I don’t think the fungus will live in the soil.

Either way you go, I’d spray all the trunks with something effective to keep more from attacking.

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Same thing happened to me this year for pawpaws in their 4th growing season, and I’m also in Georgia. Seems to to be very little to be done. Out of desperation, with no scientific backing or practical experience, I covered the holes with tanglefoot and sprayed sevin (zeta cypermethrin formula) on the trunks of all trees. My theory with the tanglefoot is that whatever eventually comes out of the holes will get caught and die. My absolute fastest growing one was not touched, and neither were my slowest growing. Instead, they hit a couple of trees that appeared completely average and healthy.

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After treated, can you paint the trunk white and see if the latex will fill up the holes. Nothing to lose at this point.

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Thanks for replies. I don’t have any insecticide on hand for this. I wonder if wrapping other tree trunks in ag fabric would something stronger like aluminum screen mesh would stop them?

The paw paw survived. It look like it was going to die but one side branch had healthy leaves. It only had one beetle strike below it. It cut everything else off and disposed. Got lucky I guess.

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Both of my paw paws died to the ground. I cut them down and disposed of the trunks.
Both have resprouted, and since they were seedlings I haven’t lost that much except a couple of years of growth.

I did manage to save an apple tree that only had a couple of hits on it. Of course we’ll see if it survives long term, but it looks very healthy now.

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I use to have lots of problems with Ambrosia beetles. I only sprayed dormant oil on my plums when the buds begin to swell. Now I add a pyrethroid to the oil and spray all of my trees and have not had any issues in the last 4 years. That one spray when the weather starts to warm took care of that problem. I get lazy on my PC and fungicide sprays but I never miss the Ambrosia spray because the consequences are to high.

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Man, I have 40 pawpaw trees - I hope I never see these beasties.
I’ve never seen one anywhere around here, on anything.

I lost one pawpaw 2-3 years ago to ambrosia beetles. It sprouted back from the stump and seems to be fine. Now I spray seven on the trunks as soon as the weather starts to warm and I haven’t seen them since.

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Ran across a presentation with a convincing argument that only stressed trees, of any species, are attacked by ambrosia beetles. Apparently one of the big stressors is waterlogged roots, which makes sense considering my soil (lots of clay that holds water) the timing (early spring in my area) when the beetles attack what are usually wet winters. Here’s a recommended management plan from that same presentation. Earlier in the presentation suggestions are offered for trying to save trees that have light attacks.

The stressor that has been associated with all the cases I’ve had – although I haven’t had any trouble in years, even without taking any preventative measures – has been late spring frosts. Figs, pawpaws, and jujubes are the only species I remember getting attacked by ambrosia beetles. I see what they call “ambrosia” in the wood of red maples I fell very regularly, though, and I assume that’s the same thing, but I’ve never seen the “toothpicks” on a maple or any other tree in the woods.

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