Yes but they were getting chewed by borers over the years. Some of them looked good until one season they were dead.
Has anyone tried the screen protector method?
I have mint grow around one peach tree, it seems helped a bit. I have not seen any borers on that particular tree yet
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Scott,
Could I apply neem oil now on 1 -2 year trees or do you only recommend while dormant?
Scott,
Do you suppose I could apply neem now?
Or is there some reason necessitating dormant-only application? Would it damage the tree if applied during the growth season?
I’m gonna attack these borers with a clothes hanger wire. Then I’ll try neem. Can I use neem now? Or should I wait until December?
I tried screen on an apricot tree and I think it got too hot; split the bark. I removed the screen and the tree eventually recovered. I also think I cooked a young mulberry with too fine of hardware cloth for the wire anti-rodent cage. When I reached in to feel the mulberry whip, my arm got warm in the enclosure. Might have been coincidence, but something to think about.
I don’t think the neem harms the tree so can be applied any time. I don’t know the best strategy as I just started doing this. I am probably going to re-apply neem during the egg laying season, so any eggs laid will hopefully get snuffed out.
I found two borers in an inspection yesterday. I have about 50 peach trees and finding 2 borers total is almost nothing for me. Last year this time the majority of the trees had infections.
Scott
Is this the peach tree borer?
Saw it this morning sunning on my peppers.
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Thats the devil, David!
BTW on the neem I use pure raw cold pressed neem oil. I ran out so just bought some more from someone selling it on eBay, will see if its any good. The refined neem oils may lack some of the compounds needed to cause the bugs problems.
Scott
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Thanks Scott,
She doesn’t look like the Devil.
She looks pretty for a bug.
Seems like pretty females always cause me problems…
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Finally found some time to address the problem today. Just some of the goop I found:
Look at this nasty stuff! Eggs inside? Frass? Yucko:
After I finished excavating and clearing away all soil, bugs, and dead tissue:
Definitely saw at least one large larvae hiding under the crown. Poked him with the coat hanger until he wriggled his death throws. Then I sprayed a neem dillution all over the base of my stonefruit trees. I could not find pure cold-pressed. Had to settle for 10% spray dillution (hydrophobic). Hopefully it will at least provide some protection.
Wow. Super ugly. Hope your tree stays healthy and rebounds. (And tell that spider in your first pic it might be convenient if he got a taste for borers.)
I have had over 3/4 girdled trees that healed and thrived without apparently skipping a beat. You will know the trees fate shortly.
You really need to spray with an insecticide, such as triazicide, and drench the soil. IMO Neem oil will not
do the trick. I’d also cover the open wounds with a tree sealer, such as Triazicide pruning seal. It sprays on,
so you’ll get excellent coverage.
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This looks like it is similar to the squash vine borer. I delt with these last year when I grew an Atlantic giant pumpkin. To help control them you could set out yellow plastic bowls of water ( they mimicked the color of the pumpkin blossom ) and they would fly in and drown themselves. I wish it was so simple to control these borers.
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Look what I found under the subject tree-- again!
This one I stabbed for sure-- wriggling on my hook. These things are nasty.
Awful.
Matt the picture brings back my first years with my orchard; when my spraying schedule was negligible at best. Borers killed a beautiful Arctic Jay White nectarine and my first Reine Claude plum. I was heart sick. Armed with triazicide and (10) years later, NO borers. Thank goodness,. This was also my very first year having curcs, as my spraying started late in the spring.
Matt, what are you treating with? Still neem, or upping the ante?
Just neem (the less effective “hydrophobic” stuff). And some digging and poking.
Probably inadequate. Hopefully the tree will remain well despite the abuse. Not flush with extra cash these days, so my arsenal is bare-bones.