saving 1st year apple tree from borer attack

15 years ago

I have a 4-1 espalier apple tree that I planted this year. I noticed a sap wound on it over the weekend which appeared to be the work of a borer insect. There was some frass on the outside. With a pocket knife and a bit of a coat hanger, I determined that the main stem is hollow for about 5 inches, about 1 inch below the wound and 4 inches above it. I tried my best to root around in the hole with the coat hanger, killing whatever might be in there.

Is there anything I can do to best help the tree recover if possible? For the time being, I covered the wound with some duct tape. It was the only thing I had on hand at the time and I just wanted to seal the wound.

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Comments (6)

applenut_gw
15 years ago
Sharpa:

This is no time to be delicate; take a knife and cut it open, following the mine to its extents to find that bug and get a positive kill. Whatever damage you do is still better than allowing it to live.

Paint the trunk white this winter.

Applenut
jellyman
15 years ago
Sharppa:

If 5 inches of the main trunk are hollow due to borer activity, that tree is toast, and it is unlikely to leaf out normally next spring. If the tree was planted only this past spring, it probably contained the borers when you planted it.

What was the source of this tree, and how advanced was its development when you purchased it? I would think you would have a pretty good case for a replacement if it was purchased from a reputable nursery. And if the nursery is selling borer-infested trees, it would be helpful to the rest of us to know what it is so we can avoid it.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
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this is the main reason I'm not sure the tree can be saved. the bark is completely gone all the way around the lower part of the tree for about six inches. i think i've gotten all the borers off the tree (either by hand or spraying). I looked at the other peach tree a lot closer and saw one small place that it looked like borers might be (many that they could be but weren't) and sprayed that tree as well. what i'm not sure of is if it's lost so much bark that there's no way for it to recover. I've never seen any borers or damage (other than a few rabbit marks two years ago) on these tree before so this is the first year it's had them. it looks like there may also be some lesser peach tree borers on a couple branches a little further up. I wasn't able to find those borers just evidence of them being there. My spray times through my extension office are the beginning of july, the third week of july and august. if i try to save it should I spray it with something else as well to prevent any fungus or disease from taking advantage of the borer damage?
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sharppa
Original Author
15 years ago
The tree was planted early this summer and was from a local nursery in the Allentown, PA area. Beyond that, I don't know the origin of the tree. It's about 3 feet high with 5 feet of width from the 4 lateral espaliered branches. The main trunk is maybe an inch in diameter.

It's had some new growth on only one lateral this past month and I didn't do any spraying on it.
plumfan
15 years ago
This is an off-label use for those fly-strip bars that contain dichlorvos, so do not expect that competent orchards who have to follow federal rules will be using this method, but it does work for the small orchardist.

I had a borer making frass on one of my trees. Tried to get him with a wire and all that. I thought I got him, but the next day there was more frass. So I cut a sliver of plastic off one of the fly-strip bars that I store in the freezer (in a jar, so that it is preserved indefinitely) and poked that into the borer hole. Then the opening of the borer hole was plugged with kids modeling clay (to confine the dichlorvos vapors to his tunnel). The vapors from the fly strip sliver killed the borer dead as a doornail. No further damage to the tree, and it chugs on.
sharppa
Original Author
15 years ago
My tree has leafed out okay and has a lot of nice blossoms on it currently. I have the wound from the borer just wrapped up in duct tape and there are no signs of more insect activity.

What should I do with the wound? Seal it somehow? Somehow duct tape just doesn't seem right! :-)
sharppa
Original Author
15 years ago
Any suggestions for patching my apple tree wound from the borer? As you can see from the picture, it seems like it's doing okay.

Any suggestions for how/where to prune it at this point?

Here is a link that might be useful: picture of tree

saving 1st year apple tree from borer attack

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applenut_gw

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saving 1st year apple tree from borer attack

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