Bamboo borer ?

Controlling pests of bamboo

Moderator: needmore

Post Reply
pokenei
Posts: 407
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:18 pm
Location info: 0
Location: Toronto (north)

Bamboo borer ?

Post by pokenei »

Found this bad boy by accident the other day after seeing a tiny shoot that had flopped over.
I think this is one of those sudo-stem borers, and somehow it has discovered bamboo as viable new host.

Hope none of my bigger shoots is infected.

To punish this bad boy, as you can see, I burned its ash! :D
Somehow it has grown too big and trapped itself inside the bamboo.
Attachments
bamboo borer.jpg
Tarzanus
Posts: 1457
Joined: Sun Jan 16, 2011 12:05 am
Location info: 0
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia

Re: Bamboo borer ?

Post by Tarzanus »

These nasty buggers can davastate bamboo. I found that on my Borinda (that is now officially dead, I only have the smaller one that is growing in-ground outside). Not a single shoot survived one year, when it got infected by European corn borers. They devastate the shoot and often end up below the soil level, nibbling all the way to the rhizome neck.

You killed it with fire. Good! :mrgreen:
pokenei
Posts: 407
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:18 pm
Location info: 0
Location: Toronto (north)

Re: Bamboo borer ?

Post by pokenei »

Well, I guess I am lucky so far, I don't see other ones in my bamboo, but then, I wouldn't know until the shoot is already damaged.

I know what you mean, these guys devastated by long (broad)-leaf plants year after year, eating down and into the roots/bulbs of those plants.
pokenei
Posts: 407
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:18 pm
Location info: 0
Location: Toronto (north)

Re: Bamboo borer ?

Post by pokenei »

Grrr... I spoke a bit too soon. Found a big (1/4 inch) Rubro shoot that had its top flopped over this morning. I could see chew marks indicative of the bugger. Then I used a scissor to cut about two inches off the top of the shoot, and by accident, that top piece flew off into the thick bamboo bush. No! Mostly likely it'll find its away into another shoot.

That Rubro shoot is only at 1 and a half foot tall and expected to reach 7 or 8 feet, so that small top piece is actually equivalent to removing two foot off the culm at maturity.
pokenei
Posts: 407
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:18 pm
Location info: 0
Location: Toronto (north)

Re: Bamboo borer ?

Post by pokenei »

Bamboo borer is no match for a hungry raccoon...

Most of my Atro shoots are destroyed, or bent/broken in several places. I tried to repair them as much as I can, hope it works. The dang thing didn't eat the shoots though, so that's good news, otherwise, it might come back to feed on my larger parvifolia shoots...
Attachments
Atrovaginata still looking good yesterday...
Atrovaginata still looking good yesterday...
And then I woke up to see this carnage...
And then I woke up to see this carnage...
Post Reply