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The best sealer for Cane Borers

16 years ago

I was pruning today, perhaps prematurely, but I couldn't help myself. I remember reading somewhere that we didn't need to worry about borers that drilled right in the center of the cane because they usually only went in only an inch and didn't do marjor damage, so I didn't seal my prunes last year. Today, however, I found many borer holes six inches or longer in Benlinda's Dream and Bonica. What sealers do you use? I've tried nail polish and some waxy stick that I bought at a nursery.

Comments (15)

jean_ar
16 years ago
I use Elmers Glue,works good for me and easy to use.

Jean
phylrae
16 years ago
I use the same, but just make sure it's an exterior type like Elmer's Carpenter glue so it doesn't run/soften up & get gooey when it rains. :0) Phyl
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We've had a patch of everbearing red raspberries for 10 years or so, maybe closer to 15 years. I have lost a few canes to cane borers most years, but because it was only a few canes, I have never bothered to do anything other than cut out the affected canes and compost them. This year, we have had no cane borers, not a one. My guess is that the firefly larvae in the soil are eating the cane borer larvae, but that's only a guess. I mulch our raspberry patch heavily, in the fall, with shredded maple leaves. The leaves always disappear by the following November, I think they are consumed by worms. Since the worms are also food for the firefly larvae, that would explain why I see fireflies in the raspberry patch every summer. Based on my experience, you might be able to discourage the cane borers simply by mulching the raspberry patch in the fall, with 8 inches or so of shredded tree leaves.
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I've used regular Elmer's white glue and it's worked fine for me. Just don't use the washable stuff. I'll agree with Karl here that you don't need to seal the small canes, only the larger ones will attract borers. If you don't get cane borers then you don't need to seal, but it doesn't hurt and isn't expensive or difficult.
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There are multiple borers and the damage they do varies. Baldo has written that his borers only go a short way into the canes. In my garden, I've found larvae four or five inches down. (Those HAVE to be two different critters.) Yesterday I found a really disgusting nest of ants in a rose cane; carpenter ants tending their young. (Gone now). Something I've tried to get numbers on, and have had zero success with, is timing when my borers get active. When I've done a HT pruning in early January, the cut surfaces ahve hardened off and the borers haven't been a problem. But when I pruned when the local rose society recommended (to get HT blooms for a scheduled show), I found most canes were bored. That implied an early to mid April borer activity here. Sealers worked, BTW. That late Easter freeze two years ago knocked my plannings for a loop and the critters haven't had many good canes to go into for the past two years.
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Hi, Brandon. Thank you for writing from my region! I have also grown roses here since the mid 1990s, and I've never had rose borer problems either until recently. I checked my neighbors' roses today and notice that many also have borers. The buggers seem to have moved in during the last couple of years or so. I can identify old holes from (at least) last year in my rose canes. Things have been rather hectic at my house, so I haven't been paying a lot of attention to my garden over the last two years. This year, the critters seem to be legion! They even bored through the Elmer's Glue and nail polish I just pasted on my Penelope. I really should prune my OGRs after bloom, anyway, so I think that's what I'll start doing. Due to time constraints, I've always pruned all my roses except ramblers in late winter. If my HTs and floribundas survive this spring, I'll seal them with something more durable each year and do what you suggest, prune them a little later in the springtime. Do you know when rose borers are done with the egg laying stage? I'm researching that topic. I'll be curious to hear if my neighborhood is an anomaly or if rose borers are becoming more plentiful in the Willamette Valley. Raspberries have grown in popularity in my area, so I'm checking out raspberry borer sites as well. Thank you again for your local feedback and any new info you discover. Carol
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carla17
16 years ago
Once I used the golden polyurethene (sp). Don't get it on your clothes. They even bore my butterfly bushes.

Carla
barbarag_happy
16 years ago
Elmer's Carpenters Glue on the ones that are susceptible. Somehow I'm not surprised that Belinda's Dream is. And my first plants, in Dallas, always had some dieback so I made multiple cuts over the season. She's so vigorous that I wouldn't hold that against her. New to this climate so I don't know what I'm in for, borer-wise.
nekkidchrissy
16 years ago
Last year, I used some cheap store bought glue (like Elmers). Worked fine for me. No problems.
lainey_6b_va
Original Author
16 years ago
I had tried my grandchildren's Elmers. Wondered why it didn't last. :)
anntn6b
16 years ago
The "they only bore an inch down" applies to the borers that author has seen on the West Coast; in our part of the world, six inches or even deeper does happen often.
Not all bugs are alike even if they make similar holes.
petaloid
16 years ago
I use pale-colored nail polish to seal the bigger canes. I leave the rest, but I'm a West-coaster.
Jean Marion (z6a Idaho)
16 years ago
I use walnut wood putty exterior filler... It goes on nice, not drippy. Dries fast. Blends in with the color of the canes... Works just like glue... I get it at home depot near the flooring dept...
lainey_6b_va
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks, I'll have to try the wood putty. The others are messy. I hope it has an applicator. I hate using my finger and getting it all stiff.
Jeannie Cochell
16 years ago
I've used chapstick, lipstick, wax sticks, pruning sealer, nail polish in various colors, wood glue, exterior wood glue, plain 'ol kids glue and glue sticks. If a cane borer intends to love that bush, it's going through just about anything except the pruning sealer and that expensive wax stick stuff, think it's called Nu-Bark.

Cheap nail polish does a great job for me. Maybe on the coast, the borers only go in an inch but in my garden they'll drill down 3-6 inches in every cane they can fit their lard bottoms on. Many locals don't seal their canes because in their microclimate they don't have a borer problem.

This year I didn't seal my canes and haven't noticed many borer holes. Probably because I pruned at the beginning of a rare freeze and finished right before a rare 2-day long rain. The cuts hardened over or the weather killed off my local crop of borers, maybe. After dead-heading though, I'll be sealing. These buggers may not have attacked this winter but they didn't just disappear after 10 years.
Jean Marion (z6a Idaho)
16 years ago
You do have to put the wood putty on with your index finger to make sure it covers the entire cane end, but it washes off super easy, just like dirt...
karl_bapst_rosenut
16 years ago
I use Elmers No Run Gel Formula Carpenter's Glue. It stays where it's put, dries clear and hard, and won't wash off.
triple_b
16 years ago
Can't find the Elmers but I do have a bottle of French White. Hope my 4 year old daughter doesn't catch me. Imagine the questions and the subsequent temptation!!
teri2k
16 years ago
I use Elmer's here, have an old Mon Cheri hybrid tea that always gets borers.
But then, I'm in a dry climate, so no problem with rain washing it off before it dries.

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