Today I discovered that I have peach borers. 6/8 of my peach trees are infested. I found 50+ little ones and about 10 giant ones. So sad. Atleast now I know to spray the base of the trunk. Some trees are propably goner. I already made copies in case. Here are a few pic to help newbie like me. I used a computer screw driver to dig them out. It was kind of vengefully fun.
5 Likes
It might be worth looking into Scotts method of using Neem oil. Those worms look nasty.
1 Like
Not only do I spray the trunk, I also spray about two feet in diameter around the base of the tree on the soil.
1 Like
What is Scott’s Neem oil method? I always have to be on guard for these buggers, and they will take out fully grown trees if you don’t control them. Permethrin based insecticides work well, as per the instructions of the local extension, but if there is an effective organic way to control them I would love to know.
On a side note if your trees make it you should notice a renewed vigor in them after they heal, at least I did with mine when I first realized I had them.
1 Like
If its only oozing from the base it sounds more like borers to me. But the main sign its truly borers is there will be brownish-tan sawdust-ooze stuff. Its like you mixed 50-50 sawdust with the clear goo that oozes from peach trees. Dig around the base to see if you have any of that.
I have tried many treatments. My current one which seems that it might actually work is I paint the lower few inches of trunk and underground with raw neem (not spray, the non-diluted oil). The trees don’t seem to mind and I have not seen a single borer this year after I applied the neem over the winter.
2 Likes
This time of the year, I am busy for doing something else, did not focus on borer issue. As I was inspecting my trees recently, I noticed some brown oozes with sawdust at the base of my superior plum. I got a pocket knife , cloth wire and a bottle of 10% bleach solution started to go after that sucker. I cut a small section of bark out and poke the wire through. Part of bark was hollow underneath, cloth wire can easily went through without much resistant. I did not see the worm but hopefully the cloth wire had done the work. Will monitor further borer activities more closely. This alarmed me .I went ahead to check the base of my peach trees closely, I found similar oozes at one of my peach. This time, I was able to dig out a worm.
1 Like