Found this frass on an otherwise healthy maple. Online searches first suggested might be aboreal termites, but doesnt look anything like the mud tubes or nests ive seen before, and there's no dead wood on the tree. Looks like some kind of borer to me, but wondering what others think. Also, if anyone knows what it is, treatment options?
by whatsernameu
4 Comments
Looks a bit like wasp Scratch it off
Def borers. That brown stuff is frass, excretion of the borer grub inside. It brushes off easily. A few good pokes with some flexy wire will usually kill the borer, or you can flood the hole with permethrin or pyrethrum to kill it. The tree will usually recover.
Clean the sawdust off, fill the holes with cooking oil with pyrethrum. Plug the holes with bits of bath soap. It should heal.
I have this on 2 maples at my place, along with a considerable infestation of an Albizia which I have now had taken out.
Definitely frass from borer. An opened up paper clip can be inserted in the hole to skewer the pest. However your arms are only so long and there’s bound to be more than just that one. The joint of two branches seems to be a weak spot they like.