It’s always sad when you get a new pest you’ve never had before. I lost two trees to wind this year at the soil line and because I hadn’t experienced Apple Tree Borers before I didn’t immediately recognize the break was a symptom/the borers being the real problem.
Today I noticed a three year old Hauer Pippin completely dead from top to bottom. The base of the tree snapped off when I pushed it and this was the underside:
Inside those tunnels were two of these monsters:
They’re quite large, larger than you’d think which is why it’s so easy to see how they can kill off a tree. What I didn’t notice, but realize now, is the telltale sign is TONS of orange frass around the base of the tree, as if someone took orange sawdust, made a putty out of it, and stuck it all around the base of the tree. I walked my entire orchard and found two more infected trees that were still alive but definitely have these guys inside them. Proceeding to treatment later today.
-Kevin