I use Elmers Glue,works good for me and easy to use.

Jean

I use the same, but just make sure it's an exterior type like Elmer's Carpenter glue so it doesn't run/soften up & get gooey when it rains. :0) Phyl

Once I used the golden polyurethene (sp). Don't get it on your clothes. They even bore my butterfly bushes.

Carla

Elmer's Carpenters Glue on the ones that are susceptible. Somehow I'm not surprised that Belinda's Dream is. And my first plants, in Dallas, always had some dieback so I made multiple cuts over the season. She's so vigorous that I wouldn't hold that against her. New to this climate so I don't know what I'm in for, borer-wise.

Last year, I used some cheap store bought glue (like Elmers). Worked fine for me. No problems.

I had tried my grandchildren's Elmers. Wondered why it didn't last. :)

The "they only bore an inch down" applies to the borers that author has seen on the West Coast; in our part of the world, six inches or even deeper does happen often.
Not all bugs are alike even if they make similar holes.

I use pale-colored nail polish to seal the bigger canes. I leave the rest, but I'm a West-coaster.

I use walnut wood putty exterior filler... It goes on nice, not drippy. Dries fast. Blends in with the color of the canes... Works just like glue... I get it at home depot near the flooring dept...

Thanks, I'll have to try the wood putty. The others are messy. I hope it has an applicator. I hate using my finger and getting it all stiff.

I've used chapstick, lipstick, wax sticks, pruning sealer, nail polish in various colors, wood glue, exterior wood glue, plain 'ol kids glue and glue sticks. If a cane borer intends to love that bush, it's going through just about anything except the pruning sealer and that expensive wax stick stuff, think it's called Nu-Bark.

Cheap nail polish does a great job for me. Maybe on the coast, the borers only go in an inch but in my garden they'll drill down 3-6 inches in every cane they can fit their lard bottoms on. Many locals don't seal their canes because in their microclimate they don't have a borer problem.

This year I didn't seal my canes and haven't noticed many borer holes. Probably because I pruned at the beginning of a rare freeze and finished right before a rare 2-day long rain. The cuts hardened over or the weather killed off my local crop of borers, maybe. After dead-heading though, I'll be sealing. These buggers may not have attacked this winter but they didn't just disappear after 10 years.

You do have to put the wood putty on with your index finger to make sure it covers the entire cane end, but it washes off super easy, just like dirt...

I use Elmers No Run Gel Formula Carpenter's Glue. It stays where it's put, dries clear and hard, and won't wash off.

Can't find the Elmers but I do have a bottle of French White. Hope my 4 year old daughter doesn't catch me. Imagine the questions and the subsequent temptation!!

I use Elmer's here, have an old Mon Cheri hybrid tea that always gets borers.
But then, I'm in a dry climate, so no problem with rain washing it off before it dries.