Borers Beetles Attacking Chestnut Tree

[DrDirtNap]

Was out checking out my fruit and nut trees at the farm this last weekend and noticed the newly emerged leaves wilting on one of my chestnut trees. As soon as I saw the wilted leaves I suspected what the problem was. Borers had attacked the tree. I’ve had it happen before several years ago but that time it was on much smaller trees. The tree this year is at least a three inch caliper tree. Supposedly these beetles only attack trees that are stressed....this chestnut tree was healthy. Now it will likely die. If you look close you can see the frass tubes being pushed out of each hole. These type of bores can be controlled or at least repelled by spraying the trunks early in the spring with bifenthrin insecticide but the timing has to coincide with the egg laying of the adult beetles.
Has anyone else had issues with borers in chestnut trees?

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[chickenlittle]

Sucks to lose something like that..

 

[OakSeeds]

Not with bores in chestnut trees; however, I battle emerald ash bores on an annual basis. I use another insecticide - Imidacloprid - as a soil drench (can be used as a bark drench) in late March / early April to treat the trees. On a 3-inch caliper tree, an ounce of Dominion 2L (21.4%) would suffice as either a soil drench or bark drench. It is probably less-or-same level of toxicity to humans than bifenthrin. Only drawback is harm to bees; however, that is no problem if trees are too young to flower.
It should provide protection for 12 months; however, if one decided to explore it's use, I would contact company and ask about late fall treatments for early spring protection.
Here's a very current fact sheet.

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/archive/imidacloprid.html

 

[Ben Fulton]

Ambrosia beetles showed up in seven of my biggest and bearing healthy chestnuts this spring. I did not know what an ambrosia beetle was until three days ago and now I know more than I want to and the news is heartbreaking. I have 148 chestnuts that I baby and to find that these trees are goners is devastating. The only advance I can get is to cut them down and burn them and hope that they stump sprout to start over. The beetles introduce a fungus that feeds its hatching beetle larva. This fungus is what kills the tree. So if the has reached the roots it will not resprout. I am in east central Virginia. I am going to try and save a few of the trees that only have a few of the sawdust toothpicks, hoping the fungus load is survivable. Treating with a permitherin spray and a bark penetrating surfactant and a fungicide with the same surfactant. Will use tree wrap on the trunks in the future to hopefully protect from the boring beetles.

 

[Bill]

Like Oaks, i use a systemic insecticide on a couple ornamental pines at my house for pine bark beetles. One treatment per year and you’re good. Actually after two years of treatment I’ve skipped two years and see no signs of them returning.

 

[Ben Fulton]

Apparently the beetles bore deeper in the wood than the systemics go. So beyond the xylem and phylum. Once the ambrosia beetles get into the tree they are apparently goners. The systemic fungicides are said to not be effective against the fungus that eventually kills the tree. I will stubbornly tree to save what I can. I just was so proud of my big chestnuts and put so much work in to them to have an invasive insect show up and kill them is devastating. .

 

[Bill]

That does suck!

 

[DrDirtNap]

The borers attacking my chestnut tree are Camphor Shot beetles which are a type of Ambrosia beetle. It is an introduced species native to Asia. Was first reported in MS in 1999 and is especially damaging to nursery stock.


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[OakSeeds]

I'm sorry for both of you; the identification of a potential lethal bug for chestnut trees will now make me think about how many more I want to plant. May have to plant even more pears, persimmons and oaks.

Disregard my advice ... there's your answer on Dominion 2L .... " Systemic products such as imidacloprid are ineffective because the beetles do not feed on vascular plant tissue."

 

[Ben Fulton]

I can fight the chestnut blight, Japanese beetles, root rot, but this ambrosia beetle is an unforeseen killer that I wasn’t expecting.

 

[OakSeeds]

I have a suggestion that might be worth a try on a couple of trees. Even though I have never attempted to grow a tree in a container above ground, or use tree tubes (I'm a cager), I got a couple of cheap tree tubes (solid ones without vents) from a friend for an experiment. I slit the tube lengthwise and used it as a tree protector on swamp white oaks with about a 4-inch diameter. I have a high dpsm density; consequenty, I normally have rub problems if I don't cage a tree. Well, neither of the 2 trees I outfitted with a slit tree tube were bothered last winter.
Since the tube fit pretty tight to the tree, would they possibly serve as a barrier against beetle attacks? You could easily remove the tube to spray; I didn't even use a zip tie ... I'll try to get a photo later this week.The tube will not inhibit growth by restraining trunk expansion (flexible) and, with additional growth, a second tube could be employed (second tube lengthwise slit would be opposite the slit (other side of tree) of the slit on the first tube. Both tubes would expand with increased girth. Might work better than tree wrap; just a thought.

 

[sx190]

I found them on my property too - I have about 4-500 chestnuts from 1-7 years old. Had three trees infested and burned them to the ground where they stood. Sprayed everything else with bifenthrin. I will begin spraying early every spring now. I do not want to lose the whole project.

 

[OakSeeds]

I can't begin to feel your pain. Aside from costs, that is a tremendous amount of work and loving attention. reminds us all of the value of diversity among our plantings. Best of luck with your efforts; hope you find a great solution and thanks for alerting - along with Ben and DDN - some of us to a problem I was unaware of.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Granted fig is quite a bit different than chestnut, but I had to cut a BIG fig down even with the ground to save it in 2017. Big as ever again now. Before burning any tree, I'd at least cut them down at ground level to see if they stump sprout.

REALLY bad news is they're not that selective on what they'll bore into... copied from an online article, "They have been reported to damage over 100 species of trees. However, species most commonly reported to be damaged in area nurseries are styrax, dogwood, redbud, maple, ornamental cherry, Japanese maple, and crapemyrtle. Other reported hosts include pecan, peach, plum, persimmon, golden rain tree, sweet gum, Shumard oak, Chinese elm, magnolia, fig, and azalea."