Flatheaded Bores

[Captain Tom]

I have 10 Laylandi Cypress in my back yard. The yard is 60 foot in width. The trees stand near 25-30 feet tall with an average diameter of 18 -20 inch at chest height. The tops are dead, the average loss of tree top due to the insect is around 6 feet moving downward. I have applies Bayer product to the trees last week. but it may take up to 3 months to take hold. The insect is rapidly destroying the good portions. Is there any other method to quicky destroy the insect? Will topping thr cypress stress out the tree even more?

Thanks Capt.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Where are you?

 

[Captain Tom]

Riverside California, near San Diego
thanks

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

There are sprays that can be applied to the trunk, but I don't think it's something a homeowner could use. You'll need to call in a service with a spray rig.

Not being familiar with the trees or your location, in general trees under stress succumb to borers. In other words, the borers are a secondary pest, to some other factor like drought or root damage.

The first and simplest thing to do is make sure the trees are getting enough water. Then try to identify and resolve other problems.

 

[tree_beard]

topping

cupressus leylandii respond well to trimming, you can comfortably take a third off the hight of a leylandii tree witout it suffering undually.

if they then look out of proportion the foliage can be trimmed back as well, as long as you dont cut back to the inner brown foliage, they will only re-grow from green foliage.

the best time of year to trim them is early spring just before they start putting on new growth.

im not sure about pests and diseases, but leylandii cope well with very poor soil conditions and are quite salt resiliant.

hope this is of help. good luck


i fricking hate leylandii, they are widely planted as urban hedges in the uk, and are wholly unsuitable for hedging unless you have the space to let them reach their natural 25' by 5' dimensions.

 

[Castenea]

i fricking hate leylandii, they are widely planted as urban hedges in the uk, and are wholly unsuitable for hedging unless you have the space to let them reach their natural 25' by 5' dimensions.

25 feet? I hope you mean meters. Both of the parents of Leylands get over 150 feet. In the eastern US they often get to 50+ feet before getting topped or toppled as their root systems are notorious for being weak.

 

[tree_beard]

my bad, meters it is, thats my cowboy maths coming through, a mixture of metric, imperial, paces, and vague hand gestures.

 

[spongygumz]

Borers

I would try Acecaps-Orthene.I would install the caps about 3-4 feet apart due to the slow sap movement.Go to CreativeSales.They are the ones who invented them. Rotsa ruck.

 

[turnkey4099]

Until I read your post I though you were talking about me 'flat headed BORES"

Harry K

 

[kapow2826]

benaficial nematodes

Insect parasitic nematodes work on beetles and carpenterworm tree borers.