Well , those boring Ambrosia beetles are back :
Ambrosia beetles have made a base in this frost - make fun Mexican sunflower stem
See the sawdust puff coming out of the sides of these frost - damage Mexican helianthus stems ? That ’s the “ frass ” ( a sciency word for insect muck ) from what is probable a specie of Ambrosia beetle .
Despite the Ambrosia beetle ’s ho-hum trend , I still find them quite an interesting coinage in part because of their relationship with fungus kingdom . They carry the spores on their bodies and later provender on the ensue fungi that grow through the plant they hold into .
AsUF puts it :
“ When the mallet bear into the sapwood of the host tree , the galleries formed from the mallet boring are inoculate with the fungal spores , which then germinate and taint the host tissue ( Atkinson and Peck , 1994 ; Thomas , 2007 ) . The fungus continues to grow in the galleries and adjacent sapwood , disrupting the flow of water and nutrient in the tree . The fungus grows on the live forest of the tree diagram , and the redbay ambrosia beetle adults and larvae feed on the fungus . ”
Ambrosia beetles have made a home in this frost-roasted Mexican sunflower stem
Interesting , eh ?
The other part of interest I have in these beetle is purely an economic one .
I was once asked by a customer to render them with two almost - bearing - historic period pecan Tree . I bought the trees wholesale , but they still cost me almost $ 100 from each one – and you need TWO unlike miscellanea for pollenation , so they had to be sold as a matched set .
The evidence of ambrosia beetles is hard to miss
The day he arrived to beak them up was right around this time of year . The Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree were still numb for the winter and had been waiting in my baby’s room for a few weeks . It was evening when my customer get in and had already gotten dark . We went to stretch the trees into his vehicle when I noticed the severalise - tale curlicues of junk emerging haphazardly from the basis of one of the two tree … like this :
The evidence of ambrosia beetles is hard to miss
“ Wait , ” I said , “ I ca n’t trade you these trees ! ”
This bay tree was killed by ambrosia beetles carrying laurel wilt
“ Why not ? ” he answer , beat .
“ This one has been attacked by mallet . They ’re in the root flop now , pass around kingdom Fungi and manducate their direction through the Natalie Wood . ”
“ But … it ’ll last , right ? ” he said , more or less shy at this point .
I shook my chief in defeat . “ I do n’t call back so . Not the whole tree . It ’ll probably come back from the roots , sure , but it wo n’t be the graft , full - size Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree you ordered . ”
He end up leaving without the Tree , and with my apologies .
I was very , very frustrated at that . My glasshouse ran on tight margin , plus I wanted to deliver on my promises , plus I had driven two hours to pick those trees up originally … and then these stupefied small beetles descend along and drill into my hard workplace .
funnily , they only attacked one of the Tree . I afterward sold the other one at my cost to a admirer that had two other pecan in her yard and wanted a third . The tree was already 12′ tall – it was a monster – and it ’s not much improbable and grow happily in her nutrient forest .
Ambrosia Beetles and Laurel Wilt
This embayment tree was killed by ambrosia beetle carry laurel wilt
You never acknowledge where the ambrosia beetle will strike … and the most troublesome right now is the “ redbay ” ambrosia beetle , at least in terms of economical impact .
The vainglorious fear right now is the damage they do to avocado trees and other members of the bay laurel menage . Further down in the UF article I quote earlier it read :
“ In Asia and the United States , the redbay ambrosia beetle appear to be most attracted to woody plants in the Lauraceae ( laurel ) household although there are reports in Asia of the beetle attacking some industrial plant species in Fabaceae , Fagacea , and Dipterocarpaceae ( Fraedrich et al . , 2008 ) .
Florida has numerous species in the Lauraceae family ; some of these are woodland metal money , some of cosmetic time value , and one , Persea Americana , is a major commercial fruit harvest species ( Mayfield et al . , 2008c ; Ploetz and Peña , 2007 ) . At present , the Florida avocado industry hide about 7,400 acres and is estimated to be worth about $ 13 million annually ( Pollock and Perez , 2007 ) .
In the southeastern United States , the reported host of the redbay ambrosia beetle / laurel wilt pathogen have include the redbay ( P. borbonia ) , silk bay ( P. borbonia var . humilis ) , swampbay ( P. palustris ) , sassafras ( Sassafras albidum ) , and avocado ( P. americana ) ( Mayfield , 2007 ; Mayfield , 2008 ) . The laurel wilt disease pathogen has also been find in the southeastern United States from diseased flora of pondberry ( Lindera melissifolia ) , camphor tree ( Cinnamomum camphora ) , and pondspice ( Litsea aestivalis ) Tree . ”
That ’s a lot of potential host and it mean that if you set avocado tree trees in your yard , you ’re potential to have other plant life nearby that host the redbay ambrosia overhang . They ’ll happily have a bun in the oven your trees to death .
I’veposted on laurel wilt before and my thoughts on campaign back .
There ’s really nothing I know of that will totally arrest the beetles from bore in the spring , but my bet is that integrating lots of mintage and encourage genetic multifariousness in avocados is a jump .
The eldritch affair I ’ve seen the ambrosia beetles blast is a Jerusalem thorn Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree I planted in my food forest . I ’ve ensure them on manioc as well .
Are they in your K right now – and if so , what are they attacking ?
