An acquaintance of mine in Oregon sent me the attached photo of a pest that is chewing up his cedar trees. I believe it to be Semanotus ligneus, or cedar tree borer. Can anyone confirm or deny this and make any suggestions regarding control? Thank you.
Looks like a male japanese cedar borer. you check out www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/pubs/pajclb.pdf for more info hope this helps
Thanks Douglas, but according to the web page you referred to, an adult Callidiellum rufipenne is between 8 and 15 mm long. This pest measures about 30 mm. Would anyone else like to venture a guess?
Hi Chris: Are you still interested in this one? I can rule out Semanotus ligneus. I just went through the Oregon's Department of Forestry's web site and came up empty. The irritating thing for me is that I know this insect. I've seen it before at my cabin near Yosemite and thought then and still think it is not a borer. Engraver Beetle perhaps but not a true borer. What kind of Cedar (Port Orford, Incense, Western Red Cedar) was this insect hitting and what was the visible damage to the trees? Usually when I see a metallic body I think of Flathead Borers but rarely do they ever get as big as this insect is. Only in the mountains and generally attacking Sugar, every now and then a Western White and Ponderosa Pines (their favorite Pine from what I've seen) do we see them with any real size to the adults. In Fruit Trees and in some ornamental trees the adults are quite small, about the size of a Whitefly. I'll work on it if you still have interest in this one. I will say that the Sevin recommendation from the Oregon St. University Extension for Cedar Tree Borers leaves me shaking my head in disbelief. Obviously they have not updated their controls from what they knew several years ago. For a bona fide borer Lindane sprayed under the bark or any strong organo-phosphate also sprayed under the bark can be used but generally only when a serious, unmanageable outbreak is what we are looking at. Sorry but topographical sprays are almost useless as it is not the adults that cause us the most damage, it is the larvae of the Cedar Tree Borers instead. A good preventative oddly enough is Creosote applied in a circle around the base of the tree. Adult borers generally will not go near it. Borers and Conifers go hand and hand. If the tree has not become stressed usually due to a prolonged drought then the borers and bark beetles are not enough to kill the trees. Western Bark Beetles hit a weakened tree with such voracity in numbers that the tree simply does not have a chance to withstand the attack. They are real small critters, about .5cm in length and are a metallic brown in color. Jim
Hi Chris: Sometime check out these URLs and see what you think. http://www.torreypine.org/Insects/Prionus.htm http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1137012 Jim
further details on this insect THis bug was in a Port Orford (Lawson's) cedar of about 15 years age, 12 inch diameter at the base. I dug two of them out of tunnels in the wood, the photograph was of the live one (the other came out in pieces). The stem was totally girdled under the bark for a vertical distance of about 2 feet, with more tunnels going up to some 8 ft above the ground. Ite adult form was in a tunnel that went into the sapwood rather than just staying under the bark. I've lost a couple other Port Orfords with the same insect damage inside. ANd I see a LOT of cedar trees around the city (Vancouver, WA) that all turn yellow and dead in one season. Can't believe that all fo them are suddenly being weakened by phytophera-like fungi and suddendly becoming insect-prone. Luurt
Hi Luurt: I believe you as I know what I've seen when we cut into the bark of a fallen 150+ year old Incense Cedar. We found larvae that made their own fissures deep into the cambium. We saw no adults but it was the size of the larvae that shocked us. They were no less than 5" in length and just the head on them was almost ¾" wide. They were by far and away the largest borer type larvae I've ever seen to date. We collected some of them and later I asked around as to what the insect was and asked what size the adults would be. I was given a name but it was not correct at that time but I was told by more than one person with a straight face that the adults would get no more than 1" in size. I did not believe them then and still do not. As far as this beetle goes I may have some egg on my face with the first post but I honestly did not feel this was a true borer. A root borer is what this insect is referred to but that does not mean that it cannot traverse up the tree instead of down. There are some adult borers that are much more of a problem than their larvae are but I am too accustomed to seeing larvae doing the damage much more often than the adults. Still, these beetles are gigantic in size and if a few of them get in a relatively young tree I do not know what the tree can do to fight them off especially once the beetle gets into into the cambium or into soft wood. I will not get into the phytophthora issue at this time. I know what happened to pretty much healthy 50-150 year old Ponderosa Pines that got hit by the Western Bark Beetle. In less than one season, actually in 3 months, the trees went from looking real good to having their tops starting to die back about 10-30 feet with outward sap deposits allover the tree. When I had a professional crew come in and fell the trees long before they were dead, we could not believe our eyes when literally thousands of the beetles were emitted into the air as soon as the tree hit the ground. After losing 35 old Ponderosas, not including some young Sugar Pines, I sprayed a 77% Chlordane solution mixed with Creosote around the perimeter of the property. I've not lost a single tree due to a bark beetle in 13 years since. I do not like direct injections unless we can place the chemical exactly where we want it to go. I'll cut away a portion of the bark and use a fine mist to move the spray up, down and around just under the bark and the cover up the cut portion, even with tree sealer if need be. I want my spray to act as a fumigant inside the tree. If little or none of the chemical can dissipate out then I will get a systemic like action inside the tree as well as a fumigant outside the cambium. If there are any larvae inside the bark they generally will be goners. You may have to do something similar, unless an Arborist can guarantee you somewhere between 75-100% effectiveness with the chemical injections or you pay nothing for their services. Try that on them and then see how they want to play things. Jim
i live in west chester Pa about 30 miles west of Philly I have a beautiful Cedar tree in my yard but it has several rings of what I believe to be borers holes. Is there any type of chemical I can use to kill these pests. Thank you Ed Clare ejclare@hotmail.com
I have also seed the ring of holes in a Deodar cedar that appear to be some type of borer. This tree is more common to more southern US, but I have a very nice specimen here near Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Eliza
