Question
Dear Melissa,
I live in arkansas. I had a china cherry tree and noticed one day it was dying. Looked closely and noticed LOTS of SAP coming from the trunk. Too late, it was pretty much gone at this point. So, dug up and planted 2 drawf plum trees in its place. Guess what? notiticed today sap coming from both trunks and one the leaves dying out and some gone. I was wandering do you think these are borers'? If so, what can I do to prevent this in the future? Dug these up and took back to the store, they had a 1yr warranty on them. Do I need to put something in the ground to kill these pest?
I appreciate any help you can give me..
Thank you again!!!
Shelly

Answer
Dear Shelly, I apologize for the delay in answering you.  I had a wedding for my father all the way across Texas, so I have been a bit slow.  However, it does indeed sound like you have borers on your trees.  If you still had the trees I would suggest spraying with a borer spray  and a good one would be a product from Ferti-Lome called Borer, Bagworm, Tent Caterpillar, Leafminer Spray.  You probably should apply a systemic insecticide in the soil that specifies borers.  Be sure to apply thoroughly to the entire area and water in well.  Then when you replant, you would probably want to avoid a fruit tree because of the systemic insecticide in place or at least keep the fruit off for the first year.  Then after that you could use the Ferti-Lome Borer spray or NEEM, which is organic and also fairly effective as a feeding retardant. Good luck to you, yours is the fifth question (at least) I have answered about borers in less than a week, so they are very bad this year.  Good luck, and let me know if I can be of further assistance.  I will promise to answer more promptly.  Melissa