Personally, i like southern ag products. Always look at the concentrations so you know what you are actually paying for.
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Peach twig borer looks exactly the same as that. Wouldn’t necessarily say it is oriental fruit moth.
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I saw a moth flying near my trees once I began to spray. It was small and grey; it could either be an oriental fruit moth or a peach twig borer. I sprayed all the fruit trees except the pomegranate with the Thuricide BT, from the tips to the trunk. I’ll do another spray in a week. I’m a little saddened that some of the branches were ones that I wanted as primary scaffolds.
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I put my traps ~ 20’ from the peach trees. The are ~ 3-4’ off the ground. One is on a post by an apple tree. The other is on a post by the vegetable garden. I really could not say if they are in an optimal location or not.
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Well, is it?
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Maybe, but I do not think so. Usually there will be frass/poop mixed in with the sap. Wipe the sap away and look for bored holes. If you see a suspicious looking hole in the tree, take an uncoiled paper clip and stick it in the hole to see if you can find and destroy the borers.
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Seems like beat that by a bit, finding one today!
Does anyone know if I find 1/4 cup of frass and one borer larvae, are there likely to be more? Seems like a lot of frass, but I’m not sure if it’s common to have just one larvae or many. A few pics here
@scottfsmith - seems like your most recent regimen is for 1/3 of each: neem, sesame seed, and raw linseed oil. One thing I’m not clear on… Is that mostly preventative, or also in treating a larvae infestation? And do I understand correctly it won’t get any inside that I’m not able to find? Perhaps Spinosad would be better in that respect.
Have you dug down below soil for an inch or two. Sometimes the borer holes are below soil line. I cut wire from my clothes hanger and used it to insert into any potential holes and either stabbed borers to death or dragged them out. There are usually more than one.
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Thanks. Yes, maybe 3"… I figured there would be more, but coming up empty handed. I will go do some more probing with the hanger, but couldn’t find holes with the dirt and rinsed it down (waiting for the hole to drain out now).
After the rinse down, I could see the bark better and went probing and digging. Had to remove a little loose bark and found a much bigger sucker, whose life is over now. Hopefully the only other one. Sprayed with spinosad and re-packed around the trunk and drenched. Hopefully the tree makes it… about 2" in diameter, it’s at least 60% girdled. Hoping that due to age and future growth it can overcome that. Now I need to get some neem oil for preventative.
Interesting thing (at least to me) is other than the frass, there was no visible damage done above grade.
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All this thread about borers and the most effective organic control is never mentioned. Put wood ashes around the trunk of your prunus trees and borers will not be able to reproduce. I put about 5 gallons of ashes around each tree. There is a bonus as wood ashes supply lots of potassium. Feed the tree, prevent borers. Give it a try. It works.
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I follow Michael Phillips recommendation to slather solid neem oil over the dug out holes. Neem has a strong odor and I think the combination of fumes and barrier help to kill any remaining borers. I have had good luck with this process.
Thanks for the suggestion, Regina. Does sound like a good idea, esp. if one may have been missed. That is in line with what Scott suggests, on the trunk, as well.
I guess the thing I’m trying to understand is that Scott suggests that pure neem may be too strong for first or second year bark. Mine are going into their 3rd leaf. If that is accurate, then is it dangerous to apply it to wounds or areas of damaged bark?
I’m also trying to understand the pure/100% aspect of neem. There are a few that are cold pressed ‘pure’ neem that have an emulsifier. For example, NeemDrop Ready and Terra Neem Oil Water Soluble. Those companies also offer the versions without emulsifier. It seems like the emulsifier would be beneficial in all spraying situations.
@scottfsmith - I assume the cold pressed suggestion is for the chemical compounds. And I notice the ones labeled pure/100% are cold pressed. For the painting of the trunk, is it OK to use a cold pressed variety labeled as 100%/Pure with emulsifier? Or, will this cause it to not last in the rain, or something else undesirable?
The main thing is that it’s not some sort of extracted form. Emulsifier or not is not a big deal.
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I had read that years ago. I remember a nursery called Edible Landscaping recommended that, but I once bought a single peach tree from them that had a borer that had eaten a lot of bark. The tree ended up dying, but to their credit, they replaced the tree.
I haven’t seen any scientific studies to support the wood ashes hypothesis, but intuitively it sounds like it should work. Especially 5 gallons. That’s a lot. I would think the alkalinity of 5 gal of wood ashes would be a deterrent, but it would be nice to read some hard data on it.
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This is the one I use. I’ve purchased three over the years. On a cool day it is solid. I cut a part out of the container and actually scoop it out with a long spoon or screwdriver.
Neem Bliss - Pure Organic Neem… Amazon.com
I started using it at about 3 years and have not noticed any issues. The damage those borers can cause can be significant if it goes unchecked. I actually had some that burrowed up inside a peach tree and almost half the wood on one side was compromised after I cleaned it out. I had no idea. There was not any frass except at one small opening. I scraped it out to good wood and actually wrapped a neem compress on it. While it has insecticide properties it can also be healing.
The tree survived and I was amazed. One side has a huge chunk out of it running almost the entire length of the trunk. That was before I started slathering it around the bottom every spring. One year I skipped because it hurt too bad to get down to the ground. I paid for that in the end and had some borers at the base of every peach tree except my newest.
Thanks, Regina.
That’s crazy how much of the trunk wood you lost. I’m glad to hear your tree survived.
I realize the prescription discussed here is for painting the lower trunk, but I am curious how that is effective below grade. In my case, everything was going on below grade, except the frass that surfaced.
Neem Bliss is the one I ordered. I ordered the smallest size first, figuring it would ‘thaw’ easiest and I could replenish from a larger bottle later. I looked pretty closely through the OMRI listed cold pressed neem oils, and was impressed with talking to a knowledgable human when I called and they answered without some voice prompts for self-help.
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The moths have to lay eggs above grade so if you have it down at that point you are good. You need to put on a lot so it drips down the trunk and pools by the base, this will make a barrier at ground level. This last winter I had two trees I found borers in, I think my timing may have been off a bit. My borers emerge in May, buy a borer monitor trap if you want to see when they emerge for you.
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That makes good sense… I did read the eggs above soil at some point, somehow I wasn’t pulling it all together, but should have. I think I need to look up the cycle… I guess the tiny and regular sized one had over wintered. I saw your other comments on the monitor traps and freezing them, so I’ll get a few on order.