The Thailand expat forum for Travel, Lifestyle and Fun.

sssfqt

A question to you my friends who are experts on trees.

I'm just return back from a nice holliday in Thailand to Tehran again,but I got a problem with some of my big mango trees some of them are on the way to die.
On ded tree we cut down and we can see lot of whith/yellow worms inside the tree.
They looks like a drilling machin drilling hole everywhere on the trees.
Now i guess it's to late for many trees but somone have any ideas about what to do to protect the trees.
Can I use normal spray for other insects and ants.
I have try it now on my trees and hopefully I can save some of them.
Please advise some good metod to get read of the drilling machins.

Best regards

Åke Flodqvist

__________________
sssfqt

superman

Too late I think. My trees get covered in those large red biting ants which help protect the trees from other insects. Spray insectacide that is harmful to ants and your in bigger trouble, in my opinion. I'm no expert so I can't give you any info on them "worms" I'm afraid.

Thetyim

Stem borer (Batocera rufomaculata)
Stem borer attacks a variety of fruit trees including mango. Damage is caused by the grub of this beetle as it feeds inside the stems boring upward resulting in drying of branches and in severe cases attained stem also dies. Adult beetles, 35-50 mm in size, are stout and greyish brown in colour with dark brown and black spots. Eggs are laid either in the slits of tree trunk or in the cavities in main branches and stems covered with a viscous fluid. Full grown grubs are cream coloured with dark brown head and 90 x 20 mm in size. Pupation takes place within the stem. Beetle emerges in July-August. There is only one generation of the pest in a year.


Control : Remove the webs from tree trunks and put emulsion of Monocrotophos (0.05%) or DDVP (0.05%) in each hole and plug them with mud.

Bung

Had a nice big one next to my house and noticed it was wilting one day and then it was completely dead in a month. I have noticed many mango farms with dead trees in amongst the healthy ones, not much you can do as by the time you notice it, it is too late. Locals have said there is stuff you mix and pour on the ground to protect it but if you take a sample of the dead wood with the holes in it to a pesticide shop they will probably give you the stuff you need. Just make sure you ask them what the mix is as no one seems to be able to translate the quantities on the labels!

__________________
Fahn Cahn's

superman

I would imagine the damage has been done once the worms are inside the wood. Spraying before hand is the best thing, in my opinion. Too late once they're in.

Gipsy

Åke,
* Did you make any photo's of these worms/larvae? Did you notice they had a brown 'head' and claws?

* Did the bark of your sick mango trees show signs like this?

sssfqt

Hello Gipsy.

Yes they has a brown head and the damage are the same as it is on your pics.

I don't take any picture of the worms.

Åke

Gipsy

Yes, then you have, as Thetyim earlier suggested, a pest from the "Mango stem borer", "Tropical Fig borer"..... Batocera rufomaculata.




Batoceraru fomaculata is a polyphagous (Feeding on many different kinds of food) species which attacks both living and dead trees. While it tends to attack living trees which are stressed, it will also sometimes attack apparently healthy trees. The host range differs throughout the species' range, but mango and fig are the two most commonly attacked hosts.

Female beetle chews a small tunnel shaped depression in the tree bark and inserts an egg under the bark. After hatching from the egg, the neonate larva initially feed under the bark. Young larvae begin feeding in the phloem tissue then migrate into the heartwood to pupate. Damage from small larvae is difficult to be observed, but hole, dripping sap, and frass can be observed on the bark when they grew up. Full grown larva is 8-10 cm in length. Larval and prepupal + pupal stage lasts about 280 and 24-29 days, respectively.

Some more pics of the beetle: Search for ?? at SIAM INSECT-ZOO & MUSEUM

Management:

• As the pest is an internal tissue borer, It is very difficult to save the trees in the middle and advanced stages of infestation, even with the application of insecticides. The success of the curative treatment depends on the intensity of infestation.
• Prophylactic treatment by swabbing the trunk region upto one meter height from the ground level with a suspension of carbaryl 50 WP 0.2% [at] 4 g in one litre of water or swabbing with coal tar and kerosene (1:2), may be given twice a year during March-April and November-December to prevent egg laying by adult beetles.
• The effective control measures consist of mechanical removal of the immature stages (grubs) of the pest during initial stages of infestation, and swabbing the trunk and exposed roots with carbaryl 50 WP 0.2% [at] 4 g in one litre of water.
• Padding the stem with cotton-wool soaked with monocrotophos 36 WSC [at] 30 ml (depending on the age of the tissue) and closing the flap, gave good recovery in borer infested trees in the initial stages of infestation.
• Drenching the soil around the trunk of the tree may also be done with carbaryl 50 WP 0.2% solution ([at] 4 g in one litre of water). For this purpose, close examination of trunk portion is to be done during fruiting season (February-May).
• Adoption of phytosanitory measures such as removal of dead trees and trees with advanced stages of infestation at least once in 6 months may reduce the spread of stem and root borer infestation. Such measures are more effective in reducing the infestation, rather than prophylactic and chemical treatments.

So maybe better to try something less agressive (like neem oil) first, or just buy some mango fruit from your neighbours...


List of problems mango trees can suffer from: List of mango diseases - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Related and in Thai: ?????????????????????????????????????????? C
If you sign yourself up: Acta Horticulturae

DrAndy

we had similar problems on our rosapple tree

we cleaned out the boreholes as far as possible (as seen in Gipsys pic) and injected insecticide

seemed to work, but you have to get each one; if not, repeat treatment

blackgang

Mangos here are not worth eating, even when left to ripen, so no great loss, some Australian mangos are nice and the ones in Mexico and that part of the world are just damn right good eating.
So I think that they should import some good ones from Mexico,, they could send north into the USA for some mexicans to come and pack and ship over here and then I could eat my 3 mangos a year, is what I would say to do.

Can't even make a decent Chutney with these fucking things.

DrAndy

depends on which type of mango, some are very nice here

the best I have ever had were from Egypt, the second best from Brasil

Nawty

We have several Bowen Mango trees growing.

Bung

Ya gotta be joking, Thai "Nam dok mai" mango's are the best!!

They're the ones you get with the sticky rice and coconut cream for dessert. Pop one in the fridge and they melt in your mouth.

Nawty

Agree...the yellow mangoes are nice and sweet.

Perota

My sister in law has an old mango tree in her garden in Bangkok. I don't know the name of the variety but it gives some of the best mango I ever ate.

crippen

Found my Mango trees have this. Went to the local 'farm' shop,and sold me these things. One to spread round the trees,t'other to brush on the 'wounds'




(Banned in the majority of the world,of course!)

ThaiAm

A bigger pest to our Mango trees are the people that come to our unattended farm and help themselves to our mangoes. Most years the thieves are a day or two ahead of us in harvesting the Mangoes and we get none.
Can't afford the 8' electric fence around the farm so all is lost most years.