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Tuesday - October 27, 2009
From: Wimberley, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Trees
Title: Twig girdlers attacking an Elm tree in Wimberly, TX.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills
QUESTION:
I was looking at my small 6' cedar elm and noticed that four (4) 1/2" limbs have circle cuts a 1/8" wide completely around them and they are dead. Is this some insect or maybe a bigger critter? I have several other cedar elms and they are not affected.ANSWER:
It sounds like your elm tree has been visited by a twig girdler, a type wood-boring beetle. Texas Agricultural Extension Service of Texas A&M University has an excellent publication, Wood Boring Insects of Trees and Shrubs , with information to help identify your particular pest and how to control it.
Other useful sources of information can be found at:
Texas Agricultural Extension Service
University of Nebraska Extension
Check this site for some good beetle images
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