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Premature hard pruning due to cane borers

Artist-FKA-Novice Zone 7B GA

last year

There I go again in Novice mode, hardly "Artist." :)

I noticed today that a few of my bushes had holes in previously pruned canes. I kept cutting down and the damage kept going. One of them took it all the way down to to the bud union which made me wonder if that rose (Dick Clark) is doomed, despite nice blooms even with over half defoliation; the latter I had attributed it to black spot. There were several canes with holes but the others did not go all the way down. I ended up pruning the living lights out of this bush and now it looks like a radical pruning in the winter. I sealed the freshly pruned canes.

I had never taken the advice about sealing pruned case with Elmer glue seriously. I thought along the lines of "it won't happen," irrationally so, obviously.

In early spring there will be one more task to add - the sealing of freshly pruned canes.

Now I wonder what will be the consequence of this early / out of season hard pruning.

Thank you all!

Comments (3)

Moses, Pittsburgh, W. PA., zone 5/6, USA
last year
last modified: last year
Elmer's Glue will soon wash off from rain and watering. The cut stem will then be vulnerable for a borer attack.

Give this a try for future cut ends.

Place generous dab of acrylic, exterior house paint, any gloss, any color, on the cut end. Let it dry an hour or so, and put another dap of paint on top of it. Then, a short time later push a 5/8" or wider upholstery tack (Amazon sells them), into the just painted cut end all the way it will go until some paint oozes out around the tack's edge.

The tack should be as wide or wider than the diameter of the cut stem. I have seen borers sneak a hole next to the edge of a tack that was too small in diameter, and only a tack was used, no paint dab covering the cut end. That's why a thick dab of paint at a cut end held down with a protective wide tack overhanging the cut edge is an ideal defense.

Sounds drastic, but critical cases require drastic measures.

A borer can kill a young bush, especially a grafted one. Own root bushes may not sustain fatal results from a borers attack.

Moses
Artist-FKA-Novice Zone 7B GA thanked Moses, Pittsburgh, W. PA., zone 5/6, USA
Artist-FKA-Novice Zone 7B GA
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
Waow. This is art. I had no idea that such painstaking measures are required.

I only have a few bushes.

What about people who have dozens and hundreds? Do they do this ... or most take their chances?

Would some nail polish/gloss work? Would it be effective without the tack?

I understood that the newly pruned canes are vulnerable but once the cut ages, it should be OK. Is that true?

Thank you so much, Moses!
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I've actually seen a little wasp like creature drilling down a cane I had just pruned but hadn't gotten around to sealing yet. I have also found tunnels on unpruned canes that go almost down to the bud union. These tunnels were almost always on brand new healthy basils or nice new secondary branching. They broke my heart as I continued to prune down further and further trying to see if anything was still in the cane and where the tunnel would finally stop. Perhaps I have two different types of borers (lucky, lucky, lucky). When the Raspberry Cane borer was first suggested as one of my pests I kept a sharp eye out for any damage to these new succulent canes near the tip (which is where they said the borer would make a slit in the cane and deposit her eggs). I've never seen any sign of anything, including damage to the top leaves, or slits in the cane. The only thing I've ever seen are those wasp type borers. So what do I do? I never spray insecticides for them, but I do seal the canes of any pruned area that's about the size of a pencil or even a bit smaller. This has cut down on the amount of damaged canes I encounter. At least if I have 2 different kinds of borers, I'm helping to alleviate one type of tunnel with the glue. If a person doesn't want to seal, that's up to them. Trial and error are the way we all learn what is in our own personal outdoor space. As I always say, it's your garden, so do what you think is best for you, not other people.......Maryl
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Moses, Pittsburgh, W. PA., zone 5/6, USA
last year
Nail polish, if it can hold up outside, month after month, after month could be the ticket, too.

Moses
Artist-FKA-Novice Zone 7B GA thanked Moses, Pittsburgh, W. PA., zone 5/6, USA

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