Borer in the canopy

[Tree Frog]

I have a client with an 70+ year old white poplar. While pruning I found borer in a few of the the canopy branches and no where else. The tree is roughly 60ft tall by 60 wide. with no other signs of stress other than gaff marks and being topped thirty years ago. Oh and a few rats chewing on the bark in certian spots.

My question is: has anyone had luck with the over-the-counter Bayer Systemic treatment on such an older and large tree or is there another route to go (due to location, not many options for commerical spraying).

 

[treeseer]

I have no experience in either Idaho or white poplar, but it is very common to see scattered borer injury in canopy branches. In these I dig out the decayed material with the tip of my handsaw or preferably hand pruners if I have remembered to keep them in the pouch on my scabbard.

Then I call up for the toolbabag with 1. probing instruments: icepick etc. to finish excavating the hole(s) and 2. a small squirt bottle of repellent like dilute eucalyptus oil or a sanitizer like hydrogen peroxide, whichever seems appropriate for the pest. IDing the pest is IDeal but not always possible, so you gotta guess sometimes.

If you're on a fixed bid (unfortunate) and the client is home, point out the injuries via binocs or digicam and charge for your time to treat the pest. If the holes are random and the tree is in high vigor, then it may not be worthwhile charging for or even treating what seems relatively harmless. I'd rather err on the side of tree care, and working by the hour I have no problem taking the time in many cases to treat the pest.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I have no experience in either Idaho or white poplar, but we use Merit as a soil injection for borers and have good luck. One problem with this treatment, is if the stem is heavily infested with borers, there won't be enough pull to get the chemical up. When borer damage is so bad that the tree is showing stress at the leaves, it's often too late for soil injected systemics, at least for that stem.

 

[Tree Frog]

Gentelmen, I appreciate your help on the subject. I believe the infestation is slight and the damage is minimal where I would be able to use either of the two methods if not both. Thank you again for your help.