Citrus > Citrus General Discussion

Borer in my Grapefruit tree

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Darkman:
My 20+ year old grapefruit was completely defoliated by this years Winter. It has sent out quite a bit of new sprouts and clearly was on the road to recovery when I discovered hundreds of frass piles on the trunk and limbs. After removing the frass I discovered a small, size of a pinhead, hole. I have not seen any bugs. Ambrosia beetles are not supposed to attack Citrus. I am very worried about this and I am considering using Spinosad, Imidacloprid and Summer oil. I wlll not see any fruit this year and the tree is about twenty five feet tall with a twenty foot spead. It grows through my deck and the lowest limbs are at about seven feet (from deck) and are huge (8"-10").

What are your thoughts?

Millet:
Darkman, I have never heard of this type of a problem with citrus. My suggestion is to contact your county extension agent.  He should be familiar with insect problem in his county. - Millet

sugar land dave:
Carpenter ants?  They love large trees especially if they can have aphids nearby.  As Millet suggests, a well placed phone call should bring help.

joeb:
They are ambrosia beetles and they will kill your citrus tree. They have also attacked my weakened citrus trees. spraying of the trunk and limbs will not kill the bugs, the chemicals cannot reach them, take a spray can of permethrin based spray and put a small straw on the nozzle, wear safety glasses and spray directly into each bored hole, after knocking the sawdust off.  The beetles are only about a half inch into the hole. I use Bengal Roach Spray, 2% permethrin and it comes with the straw do this ASAP or you will lose the tree.

Darkman:
Hi Joeb,

Why are you certain it is Ambrosia. There are many boring beetles. The ambrosias tell is the long line of frass they leave as they bore INTO the trunk. I do not have that. I have a small pile of frass such as one would leave when boring OUT of a tree. The Pin head beetle does this. I hope I am right. I have not found any beetles yet. I am considering the solution you described to be on the safe side. however I have hundreds of holes to deal with and I would need a twelve foot ladder to reach many of them.

My current plans include twenty ounces of Imidacloprid, Spinosad, permethrin and Summer oil. I will not see any fruit from this tree for two years and it will not bloom this year so I believe all will be safe.

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