newbie:

I'd cut it down and plant new trees. You could also regraft to root sprouts. I've never had a borer in a fruit tree. When I lived where they were a problem, I sprayed the trunks during the summer. I'm sure there are other ways to go but spraying with an effective material works.

The Fruitnut

Peach trees are short lived anyway and yours has been exposed to entry points for other pests and diseases. Cut it down and plant a new one.

Fruit tree spray programs may not control peach borers as they show up in the fall after most varieties are harvested. I'd check with your local extension to see when they recommend control in your area. For me, I spray the trunk and lower limbs about 6 weeks and 4 weeks before frost.

Thanks for the input. As I walked around the tree at lunch, contemplating the options, I pulled back some of the taller grass around the base of the trunk, and I see that it is heavily infested to the ground (and most likely below the ground, too). I think I like your idea, fruitnut, of cutting it down and trying to graft onto the rootstock sprouts later. In the meanwhile, I will be ordering some new peach trees.

Do you think it would help to site my new peaches well away from the old one? Borers seem to be pretty invasive around here, from my experience, both the lesser and regular PTB.
Off to google PTB control methods...
BTW, jerry, what do you use to spray the trunks?
Thanks.
Mark

Mark,

I live south of you in Kansas. From your description, it sounds like you are dealing with PTB, not lesser PTB. Unfortunately this insect is even more attracted to new succulent peach trees, than to old. The main insecticide to deal with it is Lindane, which is restricted use. The good news is that a routine spray program to control other insects (OFM) generally does a good job controlling PTB, as well. If you're trying to go no spray, you can try painting the trunks with latex paint, as a barrier method. You may also have some success stapling several layers of screen wire around the trunk, taking care to keep the screen tight at the top, and checking it often to make sure it doesn't girdle the tree. Other people report plain old fireplace ashes at the base of the tree offer some deterrent. But to really control it, your best bet is a regular spray program. I'm generally with everyone else on cutting the tree down, with the one exception that if you really want to manage the borers on this tree (impaling w/ wire, painting, insecticide) you may be able to get fruit off this tree while you're waiting for your new peaches to fruit. Cutting the tree down by itself, as you astutely observe, will not get rid of the borers, they live in roots, as well as the trunk.

My borers never infest roots but always hang around the crown near the graft union. An annual application of Lorsban just at that area eliminates the problem for me. Without chemicals if you are attentive you can usually catch them before they are lethal and remove them with a knife- they tend to hang out on the surface in the cool days of fall but you should go after them whenever you see frass. I haven't used the screen method but often recommend it. I tell them to tape it on with rubber electric tape, which seems to work well enough. No girdling, anyway.

Vigorous peach trees can often outgrow the pest, meaning trees in rich well drained soil without competition from grass or weeds (mulched).

Your old tree can be pruned radically and you might get some peaches while waiting the 2 o 3 years for your new trees to produce. It may even surprise you and send out enough vigorous new wood to earn a few more years.

I said Lindane is labeled for borers, correction, I meant Lorsban(RU) as Harvestman indicated. At one time Thiodan (endosulfan) was also labeled for PTB but looking at the label for Thiodan 2ec, I don't see it listed.

Thanks for the pest management ideas. As with all things, I will try to think about it a bit before I do anything, and there's plenty of time for that at this time of year. I am really missing my Reliance tree from the other place...while it had some ptb, it was manageable. Sigh. But this place has lots of room to grow/expand. :-)
FWIW the soil is good here, and yes, mulching is in the plans. I will kill those ptb I can for now and mull it over come spring, when I really can see how much life the tree pushes out when it breaks dormancy.

Just remember to spray the trees when young or not fruiting in a frost year. As others have mentioned, both Lorsban and Thiodan are recommended to control borers. They are easy to kill but what you need is a long residual like Lorsban and Thiodan. Otherwise, weekly sprayings of Sevin or Malathion directed from the scaffolds down to the ground should take care of hatching larva. They take about two weeks to from egg laying till they start to bore into the trunks. Also some of the home garden permethrins will work as well. Whatever you use, soak the ground at the trunk so it puddles up a bit as ground level is the primary point of entry.

Heirloom Newbie:

I use permethrin routinely against oriental fruit moth on peaches, and it may also be effective against borers. But I have also been protecting my peaches and other stone fruits against borers for many years with ordinary mothballs. I place a dozen or so mothballs around the base of the trunk and bury them slightly in the soil. Since I have been doing this, I have never seen a borer, and the mothballs last a year and often two years. Mothballs would not work against the lesser borer, which infests the branches and twigs, but I have had only the greater borer.

Oh, and please take out that old infested peach tree, ideally roots and all. I have jerked out a lot of trees using the pickup and a log chain, but this becomes more difficult as trees grow larger with more extensive root systems. It can be kind of hard on the pickup, particularly the clutch. I use the inertia method, since the wheels would just spin if you tried a straight pull.

I would not try to graft on any root suckers that might emerge. Write that spot off, at least for a few years.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Is it possible your tree has a bad case of canker, instead?

If so it should come out. Canker can spread to other peach trees. Not sure if it will transfer to other varieties of fruit trees.

Canker is almost an inevitable condition in old declining peach trees but i've never been troubled by it in young vigorous trees even with older cankered trees nearby. This is just my expereince in the many orchards I manage. Cornell seems to be very concerned about canker and even recommends holding off pruning peaches until trees begin growth to reduce the chances of getting canker (wounds close quicker). I believe the canker pahtogens are so prevalent that you needn't worry about contagion although I could be mistaken.