Pests & diseases › Peach Tree Borer
Peach Tree Borer
Clearwing moth whose larvae tunnel in trunks of peach, plum, cherry. Sap and frass at base reveal the damage.
Symptoms
- Gummy sap mixed with brown frass at the soil line of trunk
- Tree decline, yellowing, premature fall color
- Young trees can be girdled and killed
Lifecycle
Adults emerge July–September, lay eggs on lower trunk.
What to do
- Find the borer with a wire probe through the tunnel and skewer it (slow but effective)
- Beneficial nematodes drenched on trunk base
If it's bad
- Permethrin trunk sprays in late July and again 4 weeks later
Stop it coming back
- Pheromone mating disruption
- White latex paint on lower trunk reflects egg-laying adults
- Keep tree base clean — no mulch piled against the trunk
Crops it goes for
Plan the plot, track every sowing, cook the harvest
Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.