The larvae’ heads are darkly pigmented and range from drab white to light brown to pink. They can grow to be as large as 12 inches in diameter.
The color of the larvae intensifies as they grow older. The adults are moths that resemble wasps in appearance. Adults are typically between 15 and 17 mm in length.
Females are iridescent blue with an orange band running along the middle of their abdomen. The forewings are dark in color.
The back wings are transparent in the middle and black around the borders. The males have a metallic blue shine to their skin and a few faint yellow lines on their abdomen. The males have translucent wings with many black patterns on them.
Host plants:
The Peachtree borer infests cherry, peach, plum, and other stone fruits. The bug prefers to feed on younger trees. Infestations are common in older trees that have had their bark damaged.
Territory:
Peachtree borers are a type of borer that is native to the United States. They are found all across the United States and in Canada.
Damage caused by Peachtree (or Crown) Borer:
The Peachtree borer, Synanthedon exitiosa, damages stone fruits, especially peaches and nectarines. Damage might be discovered in the crown area or towards the soil line on the lower section of the trunk. Healthy young trees can be girdled and killed by these pests. Older trees are occasionally attacked, but they normally survive unless there are a lot of larvae or the tree is attacked multiple years in a row.
Life history and Habits:
The adult peachtree borer looks like a wasp and is steel blue to black. In late spring and early summer, the adult borer emerges. In the mid-to late-summer, clear-winged female moths deposit their eggs on the bark near the base of tree trunks. The hatching larvae burrow into the tree at or near ground level. The larvae are dull white to light brown, with a darker colored head. They eat at the crown and tunnel up into the tree, leaving little heaps of reddish-brown frass (borer waste) near the openings of their burrows. The larvae create tunnels that restrict the flow of water and nutrients, causing twigs and branches to droop and die. Throughout the winter and into the spring, these borers feast. Borers pupate in cocoons at the tree’s base or just inside their tunnels from early to midsummer. After 20 to 30 days, adult moths emerge. Each year, the peachtree borer produces only one generation.
