Graham guardian., 1914-01-02
Valuable information About
this Pest Which Kills
Young Trees

A. w. Morrill,, State Entomologist
gives the following information re
garding the peach tree borer:
The eastern peach tree borel
(Sanninoidea exitiosa), is a rather
brilliantly colored moth in the adult
stage, and strikingly resembles &
wasp in general appearance. The
larvae feed under the bark of peach
apricot, plum and other stone fruits,
frequently completely girdling and
killing young trees and greatly i'm
pairing the vitality of older trees
The trees are almost invariably at.
tackled near the surface of the
ground; rarely far up on the trunk
or more than six inches underground,
Infested peach trees, except when
infested by very young larvae, are
easily detected by the mass of gum
exudation which accumulates at the
entrance of the insects burrow
Plum trees, on the contrary, exude
comparatively little gum and the in
festation is less readily detected.
The peach tree borer is quite gen.
orally distributed in the Eastern
States, and has become established
during the past few years in the far
Western States. A closely related
peach borer (Sanninoidea opales-
cens), occurs in parts of California
and is commonly known as the Cali
fornia peach borer.
The eastern peach tree borer is
known to exist at two points in Ari-
zona. The insect in each case is
very limited in its distribution and
neither point is located in an impor-
tant fruit growing locality. The in
Jury observed in this state is fully
as severe as that which follows the
attack of the pest in other sections
of the country. This fact is here
noted not because there was any
reason to have expected otherwise,
but since INSCRIPTIONS dealers in
nursery stock have at times in the
past contended that our climatic
conditions were uncomfortable for this
insect.
Peach tree borers, about three
tenths of an inch in length, have
been discovered infesting a shipment
of nursery stock from Alabama in
December. and in a shipment re-
ceivel from Kansas during the same
month, the worms were all nearly
full grown, a little less than one
inch in length. During March the
worm of a peach borer, not over
one-tenth of an inch in length, was
discovered in a shipment from Mis-
souri,, while many other specimens
found in shipments from Missouri
during March and April were in
variably more than half-inch in
length. With such range in size,
it is absolutely impracticable for an
inspector to examine large ship
ment of trees, known to be partly
infested, so carefully that he could
be reasonably certain that he has
found all the infested trees. Ari-
zona customers could well afford to
pay as much as five cents additional
per tree to defray the expense of a
careful tree by tree inspection to
eliminate the infested and suspected
trees before making shipment of the
various orders. The services of a
competent Inspector if charged for
at the rate of 5000 per day would
amount to less than one cent per
tree. The losses to consignors and
consignees on account of freight
charges paid on trees shipped to
Arizona each year and found infest-
ed by the peach tree borer would
more than pay for such inspection
at the points of origin of the various
shipments. 1t is admittedly true
that even the most careful inspec.
tion practicable to give might fail
BY means of such inspection, how.
ever, instead of several shipments
of fruit trees being found infested
each year, only one or two at the
most, probably none, would be found
infested by Arizona inspectors anC
the danger would be reduced to {
practical minimum basis by this
double inspection, 1t is only proper
that the shipper evidence his re
sponsibility and good faith in &C
cepting an order for shipment t.
Arizona by making a careful selec
ton of stock which will not en-
danger the interests Of his Arizont
customers.
The inspection practices in regarc
TO the peach tree borer are as fol
lows: IA single recognizable
specimen of the peach tree bore
constitutes an infestation. al
trees of the kind or kinds found in
tested will be destroyed or returned
to the shipper 3-Any other kint
Of tree which is subject to attack b!
the insect and which is shipped will
the infested trees, will be considered
infested if one or more trees show
bury which is plainly due to tn,
each tree borer, even if no insect
re actually found, but they viii
I be considered infested by thi
.er if no plain evidence of injur,
- n Ia found The ahnvP rnle