I have been spraying my trees with bacillus thuringiensis to prevent borer activity. My understanding is they need to eat it for it to kill them, so it doesn’t work if you have a borer already in the tree but it seems like it’s been working fairly well. My young apple trees and plum tree have suffered the most damage but they have rebounded ok. Surprisingly no problems on my peach tree.
Anyone else out there try BT? Any luck?
This is the first year planting fruit trees, and I’m not sure if this is damage from a borer. I’ve noticed it has affected both nectarines and peaches and an apple tree. Should I prune the branch? The tender shoots have died back; the tip is sticky and there’s frass. Any advice would be great! I am following the DWN method. Planting them close has led (I’m sure) to the trees being affected since the moth or beetle or whatever it is can just fly from one tree to the next.
That’s Oriental Fruit moth damage. Spray with BT and or spinosad to prevent them from coming back. You can pluck the damaged tip to see if the larva is still inside and kill it. They can bore a few inches down the tip.
As said by others, oriental fruit moth.
I have expanded my options from fully organic to mostly organic. Thus, i covered my fruitlets and tipped my peaches with a single permethrin spray this year. Seeing less tip flagging. I will follow up with spinosad.
Pyrethrin would be the organic option. As well as spinosad or Bt.
Literature suggests that a parasitic wasp population can exist in organic settings and control OFM. Not sure if i have that population in my area.
Personally, i like southern ag products. Always look at the concentrations so you know what you are actually paying for.
Peach twig borer looks exactly the same as that. Wouldn’t necessarily say it is oriental fruit moth.
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.
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.
Well, is it?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
