Fig tree bark issue

General Fruit Growing
#1

Hello

A friend sent me these pics. Any idea what it is?

Thanks

“Fig tree, crumbles to dust leaving no visible (to me) damage behind on the bark “

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#2

Maybe ambrosia beetles?

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#3

Definitely ambrosia beetles. Cut those branches below the affected area and the fig trees will grow back. I see this a lot on my figs here in NC. They also seem attracted to my pawpaws.

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#4

Thanks

I forwarded her a link to this thread.

#5

I don’t think it’s true that Ambrosia beetles only attack unhealthy trees, although they do seem to prefer those that have been weakened by a late frost. They are also attracted to trees that were pruned in the late winter. I’ve been trying to do minimal or no winter pruning on the trees that are most susceptible (figs, pawpaws, jujubes, pomegranates). And if I do have trees that have been injured by a late frost, then I have done some preventative pyrethrum spraying around the bottom 3 ft of the trunk during the early spring to discourage the Ambrosia beetles from targeting those trees.

I worry the least about the Ambrosia beetle attacks on figs because they grow back so quickly from the base of the tree, and all of my figs in the ground are not grafted so they will grow back true to type. Grafted pawpaws are the ones that really concern me because they take much longer to fruit even if the tree survives below the graft.

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