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,Coral tree borer (Erythrina stem borer) control


talford

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I Hope Dave will forgive me for starting a new thread about Erythrina stem borer control discussed in the "Hey Matty,what's this Erythrina?" thread below.

I am in Pearland (Houston),Tx and have 5 species of Erythrina, 15 plants in all in the ground for 4 years, some over 10 feet tall, eaten up by stem borer each year . This seems to NOT be a problem on the West coast, but as metalfan,fastfeat,AJQ (Ireland),and jimbiz indicated , Stem borer is a big,big problem in Zone 8 and up South (Coastal States).

I applied Immidicloprid/Merit (Bayer Tree and Shrub Insect Control) per instructions 30 days ago and have seen No Improvement as of yet.

jimbiz, if your still out there, can you tell me how long it took for your application of Merit/Immidicloprid to actually take effect?  I applied mine as a soil drench in the exact quantities specified around the trunks when the soil was not too dry or too wet.

I just want to add that my corals are also attacked by the Erythrina leaf roller ( Agathodes designalis) a 1 inch green and yellow with white stripe caterpillar.

Stem borer attacks both flowers and stems in my situation. It can ruin the entire raceme (over 2 feet and 140 individual buds) of flowers on E.  X Bidwillii. This borer can ruin flowers and emerging shoots on E.Crista-Galli,  E. herbaceae,and E. corraloides also.

Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis Kurstaki) has only been partially successful in control of the two pests, has to be sprayed on constantly (every two days) all spring and summer, is very time consuming and very expensive and is , in my opinion, not the way to go.

Many thanks to any helpful replys - actually, any replys.

Again, my apologies to Dave, and great to see the red shoe again, Dave.

Tom.

talford

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Tom--

Thanks for the input. I haven't tried Merit yet on my Erythrinas yet; I'm just about ready to give up on most of 'em. I have a large E. madagascariensis that seemed to be ignored by the borer for most of the last two years, unlike the rest of my 10 or so others. Then, about a month ago, entire 6' stems started declining and big open wounds developed where borers entered. One other unidentified African species is so far unaffected; crossing my fingers, but...

In addition to the borers, in S Florida, the Erythrina gall wasp (Quadrastichus erythrinae) has become established recently. It's especially severe on E. variegata, the most common species here. This pest seems to be even more debilitating than borers are. Hope it doesn't head your way.

Erythrinas were among my favorite trees in CA; I think I'm just going to write them off here in FL. I guess I lose the corals but gain coconuts :o  :(

SoCal and SoFla; zone varies by location.

'Home is where the heart suitcase is'...

_____

"If, as they say, there truly is no rest for the wicked, how can the Devil's workshop be filled with idle hands?"

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Oh NO not a wasp to centend with too? My variegata is in the greenhouse, maybe the borers and gall wasps will miss those 2 and just attack the e x bidwillii and the cg in the yard.

I know what you mean by losing a raceme...mine all developed to racemes this year, one actually bloomed, then BAM overnight all the rest were spoiled.

"You can't see California without Marlon Brando's eyes"---SliPknot

 

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fastfeat,metalfan,

Thanks for the warning on EGW. I have read some of the Florida Dept of Ag. publications on the web, and continue to follow that situation. Yes, that what I hear - much worse that stem borer - almost driving E. sandwicensis to extinction on Hawaii.

Was unaware of E. madagascarienses, Googled some info, looks danged interest'n.

I ran across a reference on the web recently (can't find it now to post the URL) that suggests that as corals get older they develop a defense against borers. my oldest are only 4 years . There is a very old and large crista-galli near me that NEVER shows any sign of borer or rollers, and blooms heavily on and off almost all year (slows way down in winter).There is a giant (20 feet high with 2 foot trunk) E. X bidwillii some miles from me that I could find no sign of borer activity on at mid summer, it bothered me that it had no blooms on it - could have been in a rest cycle.

Just much that is unknown.

I'm really hopeful that I can duplicate the experience that jimbiz had. I want to report back to this board on results at a later date.

Oh, I have tried the 'cut each borer out by hand ' method - 100,000 nineteenth century chineese railroad laborers are needed for that method.

talford

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Tom--

My E. madagascariensis originally came from the Huntington BG (San Marino, CA). I had it for several years in CA where it struggled to grow 6" a year. Once I brought it to Miami, it easily shot out 6' the first year.

Here are a few pics taken last December (pre-borer attack), when it bloomed for the first time (flower stalks are approx. 18" long):

Ery_mad1.jpgEry_mad2.jpgEry_mad3.jpg

SoCal and SoFla; zone varies by location.

'Home is where the heart suitcase is'...

_____

"If, as they say, there truly is no rest for the wicked, how can the Devil's workshop be filled with idle hands?"

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Finally got rid of my different species that I had! :angry: No flowers.....no KEEP!!!

Jeff

Searle Brothers Nursery Inc.

and The Rainforest Collection.

Southwest Ranches,Fl.

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I have an E.Crista-Galli, right down the street from you in League City.  I hadn't noticed anything on mine yet.  Do you have a picture of the damage?

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Scott, I picked up my ruler and nearly swatted the monitor screen trying to get that jnat.

No, unfortunately, I don't have pics, and I don't think there are many (if any ) out there on the web. In fact there are very few pics of the borer (Terastia meticulosalis) and even fewer of the leaf roller (Agathodes designalis) on the web. The reason is , of course , the Erythrina is not  acommercially important ag. crop in this country and therefore there is no research and products from ag. giants such as Bayer Corp.

You may never get these pests. A woman right accross the street from me got some of her plants from me and , to this day, is blissfully unaware of these pests - but I don't think she'll be innocent forever.

My opinion - You'll know when they hit. The roller will hit first. Many of your brand new, tiny , forming leaves will have a darkened sticky look, and the brand new leaves will be rolled up into tubes with a inch long greenish  moth caterpillar larvea inside. As time goes on, all your new leaves will get rolled up into tubes - just like a canna lilly patch getting hit.

The borer gets started first in the flowers. They will take on a blackened, rotted, look with lots of hair-like threads of silk wrapped around them. You'll see the entry/exit holes these moth caterpillar larvea make - they won't bew hard to spot. You won't need any help Identifying the stem borer's work on the brand new shoots either. They will just flop over the next morning and all the leaves on the top of the shoot will wilt in the middle of the day. You see, the moth flies at night and oviposits her egg right on the stem, and the egg hatches, bores into the new , succelent shoot, and has a field day eating the nutritious laden pith out, going right down the stem 10 -16 inches hollowing it out growing to about 1 1/2 inches in the process - an ugly . fat , brownish grub with 3 sets of tiny front legs - your typical Pyrilid Moth caterpillar - VERY destructive.

The fully grown borer caterpillar and the roller caterpillar then just exit whatever they are finnished devouring, and spin a little silk thread and lower them selves to the leaf litter around the base of the coral tree and dig into the ground and spinn a coccoon and re-emerge next spring to mate and oviposite eggs  next spring - during the night time hours.

Pheromone traps do little good for controll - they are just to statistically measure population.

So,  If you ever hear of any definate , sure fire controll, please  post that news to this board - inquireing minds  want to know.

Six weeks after Merit/Imidacloprid application (per instructions), I still have no effective control. That's not to say it won't eventually take effect - it just hasn't yet.

I tend to want to post too long , because I get wound -up about this pest. But the old, EPA banned systemic, Di-Syston was effective at controlling E. stem borer. At least that is what I was told by a nurseryman aquaintance that applied it and got his corals to bloom again. Di-Syston (actual chemical name is Disulfoton) was never available to the public (I think), you had to have a license to apply it , and it carried the highest toxicology rating the EPA could slap on a product - It was scary stuff. Bayer jerked the license to market it from companies like Ortho, and it's no longer available (I think).About the time that  Bayer decided it would not only create these products, but get into marketing them as well. Now you see miles of Bayer Corp's blue bottels in the box stores selling everything that Ortho used to sell.

Just for reference, both the roller and the borer are in the Order Lepidoptera, family of Pyrilid Moths. These moths fly at night .

I have thought about insect killing soil nematodes that you can order from farm supplies, but always was afraid this was mopre hype that reality. Have considered placing an air/watewr permiable plastic barrier under each Coral and preventing the borer from pupating in the soil.

All I know is what I read on the web, anybody who can control this borer knows more than me, and I want to learn from them.

Thank You for  your post Scott, and best of luck.

Tom.

talford

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(talford @ Sep. 08 2007,14:38)

QUOTE
Scott, I picked up my ruler and nearly swatted the monitor screen trying to get that jnat.

No, unfortunately, I don't have pics, and I don't think there are many (if any ) out there on the web. In fact there are very few pics of the borer (Terastia meticulosalis) and even fewer of the leaf roller (Agathodes designalis) on the web. The reason is , of course , the Erythrina is not  acommercially important ag. crop in this country and therefore there is no research and products from ag. giants such as Bayer Corp.

You may never get these pests. A woman right accross the street from me got some of her plants from me and , to this day, is blissfully unaware of these pests - but I don't think she'll be innocent forever.

My opinion - You'll know when they hit. The roller will hit first. Many of your brand new, tiny , forming leaves will have a darkened sticky look, and the brand new leaves will be rolled up into tubes with a inch long greenish  moth caterpillar larvea inside. As time goes on, all your new leaves will get rolled up into tubes - just like a canna lilly patch getting hit.

The borer gets started first in the flowers. They will take on a blackened, rotted, look with lots of hair-like threads of silk wrapped around them. You'll see the entry/exit holes these moth caterpillar larvea make - they won't bew hard to spot. You won't need any help Identifying the stem borer's work on the brand new shoots either. They will just flop over the next morning and all the leaves on the top of the shoot will wilt in the middle of the day. You see, the moth flies at night and oviposits her egg right on the stem, and the egg hatches, bores into the new , succelent shoot, and has a field day eating the nutritious laden pith out, going right down the stem 10 -16 inches hollowing it out growing to about 1 1/2 inches in the process - an ugly . fat , brownish grub with 3 sets of tiny front legs - your typical Pyrilid Moth caterpillar - VERY destructive.

The fully grown borer caterpillar and the roller caterpillar then just exit whatever they are finnished devouring, and spin a little silk thread and lower them selves to the leaf litter around the base of the coral tree and dig into the ground and spinn a coccoon and re-emerge next spring to mate and oviposite eggs  next spring - during the night time hours.

Pheromone traps do little good for controll - they are just to statistically measure population.

So,  If you ever hear of any definate , sure fire controll, please  post that news to this board - inquireing minds  want to know.

Six weeks after Merit/Imidacloprid application (per instructions), I still have no effective control. That's not to say it won't eventually take effect - it just hasn't yet.

I tend to want to post too long , because I get wound -up about this pest. But the old, EPA banned systemic, Di-Syston was effective at controlling E. stem borer. At least that is what I was told by a nurseryman aquaintance that applied it and got his corals to bloom again. Di-Syston (actual chemical name is Disulfoton) was never available to the public (I think), you had to have a license to apply it , and it carried the highest toxicology rating the EPA could slap on a product - It was scary stuff. Bayer jerked the license to market it from companies like Ortho, and it's no longer available (I think).About the time that  Bayer decided it would not only create these products, but get into marketing them as well. Now you see miles of Bayer Corp's blue bottels in the box stores selling everything that Ortho used to sell.

Just for reference, both the roller and the borer are in the Order Lepidoptera, family of Pyrilid Moths. These moths fly at night .

I have thought about insect killing soil nematodes that you can order from farm supplies, but always was afraid this was mopre hype that reality. Have considered placing an air/watewr permiable plastic barrier under each Coral and preventing the borer from pupating in the soil.

All I know is what I read on the web, anybody who can control this borer knows more than me, and I want to learn from them.

Thank You for  your post Scott, and best of luck.

Tom.

Tom--

Thanks for the additional input on the insects.

I posted the info on Merit as secondhand info from someone else who supposedly had success with it.

Personally, (and it sounds like Jeff Searle too)  the effort needed to keep these plants pumped full of chemicals to keep an established pest like this borer controlled is more trouble than it's worth.

Of course, if you have a large, established tree that has economic and sentimental value, you do what you have to do. I would just suggest to others not to plant new ones in the center of a proverbial bullseye.

SoCal and SoFla; zone varies by location.

'Home is where the heart suitcase is'...

_____

"If, as they say, there truly is no rest for the wicked, how can the Devil's workshop be filled with idle hands?"

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Tom

The borers are back unfortunately on my Erythrinas!  Last weekend I sprayed Thuricide on them but it did not totally eradicate them.  I'm going to spray again this evening after it cools off.

The Thuricide was recommended to me by our county extension agent.  I'm going to call her tomorrow and ask if she can suggest anything else.

I'll try and remember to let you know what she says.

Odessa, TX  Z8a

NE edge Chihuahuan Desert

Alt 2800 ft

El Jardin de Quixote

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fastfeat, jimbiz, thanks for the replys.

Really sadened to hear borers are there after Merit was applied, jimbiz. Good to hear about the extension

agent's suggestions, I hope you find something that works.I think I'm going

to limit myself to a workable systemic, 7 of my bushes are over 10 feet tall, and I'm no longer interested

in weekly applications - way too much time and trouble. I will keep searching for ag crops hit with Pyrilid

moth borers and hope to find what they use for control, since economics pushes them towards solutions.

I still want to explore this myth I heard about - that corals may devlop resistance to borers with age,

even though it sounds too good to be true. And, yes, I may also at some point throw in the towel on this

plant ,   a plant that blooms nearly continuously, with very high nectar capacity, has huge potential

value to migrating hummers,

orioles, and huge value to insectivorous birds, as experienced on these 10 acres over several years.

talford

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Tom

I e-mailed Jerry Parsons, who does 'Plant Answers' for A&M; he gets these borers too but has no answers for controlling them, other than cutting off the flower stems.  I am still going to ask my county extension agent here for some other suggestions.  I agree with all of the attributes of Ethyrinas so am not going to let the borers win.

Please let me know what you come up with.

Odessa, TX  Z8a

NE edge Chihuahuan Desert

Alt 2800 ft

El Jardin de Quixote

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