-fO 



THE CANADIAN HORTTCULTURIST 



February, 1914 



A Well Sprayed and Cultivated Orchard 



Formerly the proporty of Mr. A. E. Sherrington, Walkerton Ont., the well- 

 known Institute speaker. 



The Peach Tree Borer — Methods of Control 



L. Caesar, B.S.A., Provincial Entomologist, Ontario 



* 



THE following are the chief insects 

 attacking the peach in Ontario: — 

 Peach-borer, Lesser Peach-Borer, 

 Plum Curculio, Fruit-tree Bark-beetle or 

 Shot-hole Borer, and San Jose Scale. 

 There are a number of minor insects 

 sometimes found but doing very little 

 damage, such as Green Peach Aphis, 

 Black Peach Aphis, Peach Twig-borer, 

 Tarnished Plant Bug, and Red Spider. 



The Peach Borer when full grown is a 

 rather stout, cream colored or yellowish 

 larva about an inch long. It nearly al- 

 ways attacks the trees just at or slighty 

 beneath the ground. Frequently it is 

 necessary to remove the earth a little 

 around the trunk to be sure whether one 

 of these insects is present or not, but 

 usually its presence can be ascertained 

 by seeing the dirty gum mass that exudes 

 from the part where it feeds. The in- 

 jury is caused by the borer or borers 

 (there may be several to a tree), working 

 just beneath the bark and girdling or 

 partly girdling the tree. A tree thus af- 

 fe*ed becomes sickly in appearance 

 somewhat as if attacked by Yellows, and 

 may die the same season or be killed by 

 the succeeding' winter. Young and old 

 trees are alike attacked. Fortunately in 

 a great many orchards this insect is very 

 scarce, but this is not true of all dis- 

 tricts, and in some it is far the most 

 destructive and difficult enemy the peach 

 grower has to contend with. It often 

 seems to be worst in districts where there 

 are comparatively few peach orchards. 



PLANTS ATTACKED 



In addition to the peach it attacks to 

 some extent the plum, cherry and apri- 



*Extra«t from an address delivered at tb« 

 recent annnal oonvention of the Ontario Froit 

 Growere' Aaeoclation. 



cot, but the peach is the favorite. To 

 intelligently understand the methods of 

 combating the pest it is necessary to give 

 briefly its life history : 



The winter is passed as a partly grown 

 (usually about half grown) larva beneath 

 the bark. In the spring, with the return 

 of warmth, this larva begins to feed 

 ravenously and increase rapidly in size. 

 By the end of June it is usually full 

 grown, and then leaves its tunnel or 

 burrow to form a brown cocoon on the 

 outside of the bark or on the ground 

 close to the trunk. 



About the end of July this pupa 

 changes into a pretty little steel-blue 

 moth, about an inch long, looking to 

 most people more like a wasp than a 

 moth. The female has around her ab- 

 domen a broad orange band that makes 

 her conspicuous. Moths may be found 

 from about August first to the end of 

 September. They soon lay their eggs, 

 placing them on the trunks, branches, 

 leaves and even weeds growing close to 

 the trees. In about ten days these hatch 

 and the tiny borers drop to the ground, 

 and work their way into the soft inner 

 bark through crevices. Here they feed 

 on the inner bark against the sap wood. 

 At first little brownish saw-dust-like 

 castings are thrown out where they feed, 

 but after a time gum exudes. Large 

 masses of this may sometimes be seen. 

 Gum, of course, in peach trees, tends to 

 be produced by any wound especially in 

 the early part of the summer. There is 

 but one brood a year. 



MEANS OF CX)NTROL 



There is no easy means of control and 

 many that are advocated are useless or 

 dangerous to the tree. The best method 

 I know of is to combine the practice of 



'''Sf>'"'K ""* 'f'c borers by mcan.s of a 

 knife or wire with mounding up the 

 earth around a tree or wrapping the 

 base of the trunk with paper. The dig- 

 ging out with a knife should be done 

 twice a year, first about the end of May, 

 so that as few borers as possible may 

 escape to transform into moths and lay 

 eggs, and again about the end of October 

 to deslrf>y the new larvae. Mounding 

 up the trees with earth to a height of 

 about ten inches has been found very 

 useful. Such trees are freer from injury 

 than unmounded trees. The mounding 

 also cau.ses the borers to attack nearer 

 the top of the mound instead of down at 

 the crown so that when the earth is re- 

 moved their presence can be easily seen, 

 and they can be readily killed with a 

 knife. 



The mounding to be of value must be 

 clone about the end of July and left on 

 until about the middle of October, that 

 is during the period when the moths are 

 flying around and eggs being laid and 

 hatched. Wrapping with paper may be 

 substituted for mounding. Two or three 

 ply of common newspaper placed around 

 the tree to a height of about eighteer 

 inches is very satisfactory. This should 

 be tightly fastened with a cord at the top 

 and loosely the rest of the way down. 

 To secure against larvae getting in be- 

 low it, a little of the earth should firsi 

 be removed to let the paper lower dowr 

 and then this earth heaped up about foui 

 inches around the base of the paper. 

 Common building paper is good and ii 

 more durable. Tar paper is often used 

 but may do some damage to the trees. 

 The mounds should be replaced to avoic 

 danger of winter injury. 



VARIOUS WASHES 



Many kinds of washes have been tried t( 

 keep out the borers. Most of these an 

 either useless or dangerous. The onb 

 two that have given fair satisfaction ar( 

 first ordinary gas tar, and asphaltum 

 The former of these has been known ii 

 some cases to injure the trees. Thi 

 latter is highly recommended by a Cali 

 fornia entomologist, who says that ii 

 four years it has done no damage what 

 ever and has given excellent results, 

 have not had an opportunity to test as 

 phaltum. It is a cheap substance cost 

 ing, I think, from two to five cents ; 

 pound and should be procurable througl 

 any of the wholesale drug stores. It i 

 applied warm with an old paint brush 

 In applying, remove the soil to a deptl 

 of about four or five inches, then cove 

 this to a height of about six inche 

 above ground. It is better to put a ligh 

 coat on first. This dries or harden 

 almost at once, then put on another coa 

 so that there will be a good unbroke 

 coat all around. It is necessary to re 

 touch the part each year. Some sort c 

 heater is necessary to melt the asphi 

 turn or keep it liquid when melted. 



