I have insects eating a double ring around these raspberry and blackberry plants are they ever going to quit or will they do this all the way into fall? I think they’re small green leaf hoppers about the size of a pee or smaller.
(“ Raspberry Cane Borer
Attack by the raspberry cane borer on blackberry, raspberry and rose results in tip die back and cane death.
Damage is readily identified with this insect by two rings of punctures about 1/2 inch apart and located 4-6 inches below the growing tip.”)
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The weird thing is I have not seen any cane borer and I’ve been looking pretty hard for the last 3 weeks that this has been happening not a single one but I have seen the little green leaf Hoppers around those cuts.
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Those looks exactly like the raspberry cane borers that attacked my blackberries for several years. I’d cut it off a few inches below the bottom cut and trash or burn it, ASAP. The borer will eventually burrow down the canes into the crown, which happened to mine before I figured out what the pest was, and then you really have problems. See https://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000552_Rep574.pdf
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I just think it’s weird have not seen that bug yet and I look everyday and get rid of those tips when I find them
Don’t know if it is the case with this one but many bugs are nocturnal. Less predators after them that way, including people.
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yep. have them here too. cane borer aka horntail wasp. as soon as you see the damage snap off the top 6in. and destroy. spray the rest of the tops with insecticide. it will stop them from laying more eggs. they usually come from any wild brambles nearby and can devastate the primocane crop on everbearers. if your quick at snapping the tips off the bramble , before the grubs eats its way down,
the plant will send out laterals and you should get a good floricane crop the next season.
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Yup, looks just like my raspberry cane borer damage, too. I never completely got rid of it, but aggressive pruning seems to help.
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I just looked again in my raspberry and blackberry and only found what I think is a Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter and a green leaf hopper? There is never a hole that I can see in the middle, just the 2 rings? I’ll keep looking for cane borer.
figerama: Leafhoppers and many other true bug (Hemiptera) insects feed by sucking fluids from various plant parts. They do not chew, tunnel, or bore.The nymph stages do most of the damage; the adults do not live long.
I have had cane girdlers (a boring, tunneling buprestid beetle larva) on and off and despite careful dissection of the damaged areas, I have never seen a larva.
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not sure how they make the rings but its a small black wasp that lays the egg. look up horntail wasp. thats your culprit!
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I have – not on the plant, but in the plant. Yes, it takes careful dissection of the affected cane to find it.
I haven’t been really paying attention to flying wasp I’ll start to look and see what kinds are flying around. I’m going to empty my bug catcher this weekend and feed the fish in the pond I’ll look for these insects in the trap. I definitely have hundreds of beetles in the traps.
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I just found this beetle on my raspberries little bit bigger than a ladybug, could that be the culprit?
Naw, it looks more like a lightening bug.
But the damage is really characteristic of the cane borer, and I don’t think it looks like anything else. Even if you don’t see the beetles, you should be treating for them. That means checking for damage regularly and removing damaged canes quickly, and either burning them or disposing of them somewhere where they can’t get back to your plants.
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figerama, post #13: The beetle pictured is likely a flea beetle, such as:
https://bugguide.net/node/view/237859/bgimage
They are not your borers, and they are not a lightening bug.
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I meant that cane borers look (to me) like lightening bugs.