North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Michael Phillips" <michael@herbsandapples.com>]

Hi all,

 

Twenty years of suffering have gone into this discovery, as I’ve done the incessant search for damage -- and thus the grub culprits -- caused by the round-headed appletree borer. In the process, I’ve probably lost four or so good pocketknives (misplaced in the grass) and at least a few dozen trees. All the biology and “trunk clues” are explained in my book, including the new revised edition, but what’s new here is that I’ve finally discovered the right tool to go borer hunting. The key is to delve throughout all damaged cambium and end up with a skewered grub at the end of the search. It turns out that a 3/8” borer bit (I’m not making up this name! though it’s also known as a spade bit) is a righteous device for poking up the dreaded borer! Smaller diameter drill bits of this type do not have the spear point. This bit is plenty sturdy to open up damaged areas, poke gently into suspected crevices, and absolutely great at delivering the hiding grub from its lowest hiding tunnel. The goal is to get these bastards in the fall of year one, and certainly by the subsequent spring. The old idea of using a wire to follow a deep, winding tunnel is fine, but geez, really: Why not get them soon after egg hatch with a full thrust jab to the gut? The spade bit is not unlike a harpoon in this regard.

 

And if anyone thinks this advice is being offered up by a nut, well then, you really don’t understand how incredibly devastating the borer can be, do you?

 

I’ll just sign off appropriately . . .

Regards,

Captain Ahab

 

Michael Phillips

Lost Nation Orchard

859 Lost Nation Road

Groveton, NH 03582

603-636-2286

www.HerbsAndApples.com

 

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