What is it?
Bronze birch borer is known as metallic wood-boring beetle that feeds on birch tree. It usually attacks birch trees that are already stressed. It can kill a birch tree within a few years.
Symptoms
- Upper canopy starts to defoliate and dieback.
- D-shaped holes found on wood.
- Stressed tree is more easy attacked by the borer.
Damages
- Borer larvae feeds by making tunnels under bark, disrupting the translocation of nutrients and water.
- Borer attack can cause progressive dieback of the top and kill the tree within a few years.
What to do?
- Keep your tree healthy and watered. Birch tree requires more water that other species, make sure water your tree enough.
- Prune out dead and diseased branches. Birch tree doesn’t like a lot of pruning, make sure not to over-pruning your birch too avoid stressing it.
- Pesticide injections can be effective as prevention.
Other resources: