Integrated Program for the Control and Prevention of the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer

More and more trees and other plants attacked by pests which carry a disease that then infects the tree.  The Shote Hole Borer is no different in that respect. It bores a tunnel into the tree it selects, spits out (it does not eat it) and injects into the tunnel several species of fungus. Not only is it a food source for the pest, but is also their children’s future food store as the beetle use this space to grow the young. The young are born, eat the nutrient-rich fungus, and they start the process all over again. This pest is different in that it uses a fungus to feed its children and that it does not eat the material when making a tunnel.

The key here is preventative, keeping the pest from picking that tree in the first place.

So why does the borer or any other pest for that matter, choose a particular tree to become a nursery for its children? What makes the mother say “ah this is the place” and “ah, this is not the right place.”

The first place one should look at is not the tree but the soil that the tree is growing in.

I do a radio show called “It’s Alive.” This show is all about the living soil and the benefits it provides to everything that grows on it. The soil is alive with millions of microbes that each has a particular job to do. If these organisms are missing, then their job(s) do not get done.

Many microbes, all that they do is eat and poop. Doesn’t sound like a big important job but it is. What the microbes eat is the trace minerals needed by plants, but plants need the minerals in a particular soluble form. Which is the poop of the microbes, which are they absorbed into the tree (that’s another job microbes (Mycorrhizal fungi) thru the root hairs of the tree (which is where these fungi are to be found).

The Soil Food Web is like the internet for the earth in that it is all connected. The living organisms in the soil, each provides benefits to the plant while in turn, they get benefits from the plant.

When the soil web is destroyed, the microbes and the microbiology dies and or is changed, and the good work is no longer being done. Chemical fertilizers, while they provide some nutrients, they do not provide all the nutrients in the proper form. They also damage the soil by killing beneficial microbes that provide the necessary micro-nutrients, they provide immunity to the plants; they provide essential support that plants have evolved to use.

High Nitrogen is bad for plants and trees. High nitrogen inhibits the absorption of minerals by its destruction of soil microbes. Remember, chemical fertilizers are salt. This “salt’ kills all living things and in its place “the bad guys” will move in and take its place. That why diseases start in the soil.

High nitrogen will cause rapid growth. Growth which is weak in minerals, high in simple carbohydrates. This growth is a soft, lush and easily eaten by sucking and chewing pests. Many of these pests bring with them various diseases which also find the weakened plant and attractive and irresistible food source.

Using a refractometer, you can chart the Brix level of any plant, tree, vegetable, lawn, rose, etc. You will see the Brix raise whenever any type of fertilization is done. If you use a high nitrogen chemically based fertilizer, you will see a big jump in the Brix levels of the plant. If you chart the  Brix levels over the coming week, and if you are not applying any more of the fertilizer, you will see that the Brix levels of the plants will eventually drop LOWER, then it was before! While on the other hand, if you were to use a good organic fertilizer based on good organic practices. OMRI approved. One that has beneficial microbes, essential minerals in the form of rock dust, compost properly made, low nitrogen. Then you will see that the plants Brix level not only rise but they will not drop below its original level but will settle down a few points above the original level. Many conditions will cause the Brix levels to rise and fall. Seasonal forces exert a big control over Brix levels and therefore over nutritional levels of the plant. This ranges from soil temperatures to light conditions from the sun to the genetics of the plant.

The goal here is first to understand what the correct Brix a particular tree should have and then work to allow the tree to achieve that level and taking into account the time of year, what the correct Brix should be at that moment.

Once the correct Brix level is reached, the tree in question whether it is a Sycamore or an Avocado will be able to withstand and attack from pests and diseases. It does this because of the following rule I have developed over the many years I have been in business:

The Higher the Brix, The Less the Pest/Disease

The Higher the Brix, the more Complex Carbohydrates it will have.

High Nitrogen temporary raises Brix levels especially if the fertilizer also has a broad range of micro-nutrient besides NPK. Some actually have a broad range of minerals. These fertilizers will work on a short term basis but are not suitable for Sustainable Practices over time.

Using chemical fertilizers while it causes rapid growth, it also temp raises Brix levels but what it really does is causes the tree to produce more Simple carbohydrates instead of the Complex carbohydrates. This makes the tree a perfect environment for pests and diseases.

To effectively raise Brix levels of a tree, one must first provide a solid foundation: living soil.

If the soil is at a proper ph level ( the microbes we want, along with the Fungi we want, only live in a small PH range 6.5 -6.8. Above or below this range, you will find the microbes but not as much as in the proper range.  Compost is not a good Fungi environment until the microbes have exhausted themselves on the nutrients and then the ph will drop, and this will allow the proper microbes/fungi to grow. The compost should then be inoculated with the appropriate Fungi and Microbes.

In the case of the Shot Hole Borer, several conditions are different than other types of borers. First off, the insect does not eat thru the bark but spits it out. Secondly, the pests “farm” certain species of fungus which they have developed over the years that they can eat as a food source for their children. It is the combination of the two that makes chemical control tough. The pests are well protected within the tunnels they build. The tunnels themselves are an important factor in damaging the tree branches and support system.

So the key here is another rule I developed:

If the pest does not attack the tree, the tree will not get the disease it spreads. The exception to this rule and many other rules I have developed is Humans. They don’t work within any known perimeters of logic.

So the key here is prevention.

The key to prevention is healthy soil.

The organic system works on the principle that healthy soil = healthy plants.

This information is available in my latest book “Don’t Panic It’s Organic”