Boring borers in Eucalypt

12chooks

My neglected Eucalypt has a severe infestation of what appears to be borers. After much research I figured that as the tree was stressed from lack of water and general care it has become vulnerable to the borer attack. My question is now that I have removed the bark covering the borers, which came off quite easily and there were several larvae which I squashed with great satisfaction, is there anything I can put on the wound to help it heal? It appears as though the tree is almost completely rung. I have put in a dripper system, added some manure mulch and a seaweed fertilizer.

Darrell Mcleod

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derwoodii

No sorry, on your description I'd consider to let the tree go to fire wood. Look now at replanting opportunity's. When longhorn lavae damage sounds that bad preservation methods are unlikely to help.

Eric Frei

You removed the bark covering borers? Sounds like the typical separation of bark you get on dead trees and the larvae you squashed were perhaps not even borers just the typical bugs that hang out in that tiny crawl space.

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12chooks

Hi Eric I am having trouble posting pics. I am on a iPhone and have the pictures uploaded on ?????? but when I put in the HTML of the photo it says invalid file. The photo is medium size and less than what your page says. Any ideas?

Apocalypsse

How to post| add a picture or file| embed picture

12chooks

Thanks Apocalypse I have been following those instructions. I can copy the HTML and paste it in the HTML field but when I try to upload it I get the error message

Eric Frei

Did you check both file size and photo size, too many try to upload some 4mb 10megapixel monster!

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12chooks

Hopefully here is a photo, it was a bit of mucking around to get it from smart phone to a photo sharing site to here, next time I will just use my computer!

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12chooks

Here are some more thankyou for your comments they are really appreciated, I understand it may be quite frustrating to be saying the same thing over and over again about uploading photos. My problem was when I was trying to upload from a photo sharing site, the http that I was copying had too much information in it. So I deleted the before and after the " " and kazam it worked.

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Apocalypsse

Out my way we remove trees that look like that at the base.

12chooks

Uh oh I think all of mine look like that at the base. What does it mean and how can I stop it ?

derwoodii

When you say "all of mine" are there more trees with similar concerns?
either way, sorry it looks bad, damage as such is often beyond redemption. The critter has done its chewin and left the host tree what you see is exit wounds not entry so any treatment is after the horse has bolted.
You can delay the inevitable but I reckon be best to start looking at replanting .
Bare rooted fruit trees will soon be in stock an orchard of apples pears appricot could be nice.

http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/asse..._beetles_1.pdf

12chooks

Thanks for the link derwoodii the larvae did look like that with reddish mouth parts. Shame about the tree. I have several that are about the same age that had a tough time through the drought. I appreciate your comments and now just have to come to terms with the inevitable. Oh well the sooner I plant a new one the sooner it will grow!!!

Eric Frei

They also have stem canker, a fungal disease that no doubt could colonise after the wound. Borers are often but not always a secondary pathogen that are taking advantage of a declining tree.

Here's a thread how we treated mine.

What's up with this Eucalyptus torelliana (Cadaghi) - stem canker - trunk canker

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12chooks

Uhmmmm wow that is radical!!!!
Lol I was busy reading all the PDFs I should have just scrolled down to the bottom!!

Thanks for you help Eric great site!