Wood Borers for the Kwanzan Cherry Tree

Kwanzan cherry trees, like other cherry trees and ornamental trees, may fall prey to wood-boring insects. No particular wood borer is drawn specifically to Kwanzan cherry trees. Damage resulting from disease or mechanical injury attracts borers to the trees.

Wood Boring Insects

• Wood-boring insects may include horntail wasps, moths and beetles. They are considered secondary invaders because they are usually drawn to trees by an already weakened condition. Peachtree borers, peach bark beetles and Agromyzid cambium miners are among borers that attack all cherry trees.

Damage

• Most wood boring insects cause the same type of damage to all trees they attack, including Kwanzan cherry trees. The insects bore through the inner bark to the cambium to disrupt the xylem and feed on the phloem. This prevents the tree from supplying food and nutrients to the section above or past the infection site.

Symptoms

• Holes are round, oval or semicircle. They are placed in random locations on the tree. Frass, a mixture of fine sawdust and insect excrement, is visible at holes.