Raspberry Cane Borer
Categories:
Pests and Diseases of Plants
Can you tell me what to do for my Loganberries and raspberries? A small
worm got into them in the new growth of wood lost summer, right in the
tips of the new growth of wood, and then worked down through the pith of
the wood, and as fast as they worked down the can wilted.
This is the raspberry horn-tail, or the cane-borer. The adults are
wasp-like insects about a half-inch long and very active. They come out
/>
of the canes in spring and the females soon lay eggs in the tender tips
of the young shoots. These eggs soon hatch and the larvae eat their way
up toward the tip, which causes it to wither and die. It is this injury
that causes much notice. As the tip dies, the larvae turn and go down
into the canes, as in the sample sent, also injuring them greatly,
though possibly not killing them for some time. The only way to attack
them is to pinch the spots where the eggs were laid; then those that
escape and cause the tips to wilt should be destroyed by cutting off the
tips below the point of injury or cutting off the canes when they show
damage. Likewise, the insects work on the wild rose, and cutting all
those out around a place will prevent enough adults from developing to
permit little damage to be done, always provided the berries are well
looked after.