I have found a lot of canes with holes and an ant in them. I thought it was an ant taking advantage of a previous hole but the last two days I’ve found them actively creating the hole. There is a pile of sawdust like flakes below the cane. I pull the ant out, cut back the can and seal with white glue but keep finding them. What is this and how do I prevent it? It’s killing the canes on some. I’ve attached two pictures of the bugger.
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The ant is not the cause of the hole in the cane. The hole is caused by the larvae of other insects (cane borers). The ants are looking to feed on the larvae at the bottom of the hole or possibly a nest spot in the soft wood. Continue to do as you are - cut cane below the hole and seal the cane.
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The hole was very shallow and I was watching the ant push out bits of cane. There hasn’t been a larva in any hole and all are shallow.
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Curious, try to seal the canes with wood glue and see if that discourages the ants. I would have thought it was a cane borer also.
I will try wood glue next. I was using waterproof white Elmer’s glue (not school glue) and it only takes 1-2 days before they have busted through it. We also put terro traps at the base of half the pots yesterday. Happened to find a box in the garage. Also found them getting into the already dead canes on both our hibiscus plants. So frustrating!!
If you have problems with wood glue washing off, melt candle wax over the cut end. It won’t be hot enough to harm the rose (they dip bare roots in it) and it won’t dissolve in rain nor plant sap. It’s what I use to seal the top cuts of my recently budded stocks.
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