Raspberry Cane Borer

Raspberry Cane Borers have attacked all of my new raspberry bushes, which were started by cuttings purchased from an online nursery earlier this year. In case you haven't seen it before, here are pictures of the damaged canes (unfortunately I didn't think to post photos until after I had removed the foliage), hopefully I got it all; once established, the borers can be very difficult to eradicate.

This is how the top of the starter can looks, with the hole bored in the center, surrounded by frass:



Wilted tips on a new cane are an indication of infestation. The female borer carves two rings a few inches below the top of fresh growth and deposits an egg deep inside the stem between them. To prevent further infestation, I cut the compromised cane a few inches below the rings and put it in the trash (not the compost pile).



The dried "starter" stems on each of the bushes were bored, but only one fresh cane appeared to have been girdled - all have been purged. Over the next few weeks I'll monitor the other stems and plants for similar markings to immediately prune and dispose of any I find, before the larve can hatch and cause further damage.

If you'd like to know more, here's the Google link to information on the lifecycle and images of the pests:
https://www.google.com/search?q=raspberry+cane+borer&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

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Ginger, Thank you for sharing about the cane borer.

Excellent post!