Gosh darn it. The other day I noticed the tops of my raspberry canes were starting to wilt. At first I thought it was bacterial wilt caused by the cucumber beetles, which are a big problem for us this time of year. I inspected the tops again today and amazingly, they snapped off with the slightest force. A closer look revealed two dark circles about a half inch apart around the base of where the wilting starts. It was the same on each cane affected. Always two circles and always a half inch apart.
Now the canes look like this. I hope they will go on to develop side shoots or else we can forget about eating raspberries this fall. Does anyone have any clue as to what is responsible for this and what their motive is?!
It looks like raspberry cane borer.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.omaf.gov.on.ca/english/crops/pub360/notes/raspcanebo.htm
Google has lots of info and pictures of the little buggers.
The same exact thing happened to our 2 raspberry plants!
ReplyDeleteI don't know, but the same thing happened to one of my bush bean plants. It had several branches that were neatly cut off at exactly the same height, about 3" up from the soil line.
ReplyDeleteThanks TechChik! Now I need to search for the wilted tops and burn them.
ReplyDeleteThat is disappointing! Sounds like you have zeroed in on the cause though through the help of others.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I've learned from berry growers to lop off the tops of canes once they get over 5 ft tall. I forces lateral growth of the branches. I can attest to that.
ReplyDeleteGoneferalinID - that's definitely reassuring!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to know that insects can be so exact with their attack.., identical in each plant.
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem on my blackberry primocanes, the difference of course is that blackberries fruit on second year wood so no harm no foul. The canes were already 7 feet tall before they were attacked so losing the top few inches is inconsequential.
ReplyDeleteRecommendation is to lop of the infected tops and burn them so I guess they are going into the Weber next time we grill.
I get these bugs every year. I just cut the wilted part off.
ReplyDeleteMore fun than burning is to take the wilted part and slowly cut them into about 1/4" long pieces until I get to the worm. I then snip the little buggers into many pieces...
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