I took a chance and left my Chicago Hardy unprotected over the winter. Big mistake since it was my most productive tree. Anyway, it died back as I was afraid. Anyway, now it appears that something is boring holes into the trunk. I’m not sure what it is but it looks like frass or something coming out of the holes. Should I just cut it down to the ground and see if anything pops up from the roots. As of now there is no signs of life.
Ambrosia Beetle, you’re probably going to lose everything above ground. Sorry 
If you lose it (give it time still), I can root another one for you.
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Oh man. Ambrosia beetle. I’ll have to read up on it. Do you think my potted figs would be at risk? Should I just go ahead and cut it and burn it to destroy the beetles? Or just let thing go and see if any new shoots come up out of the ground?
I think they go after dying branches. I had a little last year, didn’t do anything beyond prune out damaged wood. Didn’t see any further damage last year or this year. Strudeldog recently posted he had a lot of damage from them on apparently healthy plants.
I had these hit my outside fig this year for the first time, too! I posted on a recent mulberry thread about it.
I would (did, lol) cut out all the wood with holes and also use an insecticide, definitely. They will continue to be active in your area for around a month now, so get rid of anything that attracted them (the injured wood).
I’m also spraying my other trees’ trunks and thicker branches for them while they are active in my yard. I’m painting my trunks, too, but that’s something I redo every spring for other kinds of borers 
I swear if it’s a borer, I think I have it here, except I’ve never seen raspberry crown borer --knock on wood. I didn’t think we had these here, but we obviously do!
I am still going to root cuttings from what comes off the roots this spring, then I’ll get rid of every bit of old wood on that fig. I can’t see how they’d get into the roots. Fig cuttings are easy to root, so you should try that, too if it’s a variety you only have one of 
Good luck!
I am going to cut the tree down to ground level. I can tell that the bark in the area of the borers has died. I’ll give it this summer to send up shoots and if not I’ll plant a hardier fruit tree in that spot. I have 4 established figs in pots and just rooted two more negrone cuttings that are growing well. I think my in-ground fig experimenting days are over.
It should send up some new growths. Pull the mulch back so the roots can warm up faster.
Late, hard freeze here after the figs had leafed out. Today noticed massive ambrosia beetle damage on most figs, including the main trunk of a fig thirty-fifty years old. Never had any ambrosia beetle damage on figs before, but its a bad year for them, as they’ve hit some pawpaws, an apple, and now the figs. Hopefully I’ll remember to spray for them next time we have such a late freeze.
How long before they catch a southerly and land in my backyard? We don’t have any Ailanthus here, though I see it growing 1 1/2 hr south in Mass. I remember reading how quickly SWD traversed the US. It was almost instantaneous. Bugs apparently fly to great heights, at times, and get carried very far on upper level air currents, like westerlies.