This afternoon I was inspecting a one year old LSU Thibodeaux that has been slow to come out of dormancy. I found about ten tiny holes bored along the main trunk,with a couple of the holes still having a small amount of sawdust looking material around them. Cutting into the cambium around these holes,I noticed a brown coloration--not a good sign. Realizing that everything from about an inch above ground was a lost cause,I cut the affected trunk there,where there was at least an apparently healthy shoot. Upon inspecting all of the young trees around it,they all appear healthy and free of this boring problem. I Googled for information,but I didn't find anything that looked exactly like my problem.Has anyone experienced anything like this,or have an idea about what this is?

There have been previous discussions of this problem, see http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=6840902 for one of them

Better use some mylathyon poisen around that tree and around your other trees . I live in south louisiana too but never had this problem. Hard loss on that tree. Hard tree to just go and buy. Hope you can save it. Richie

First,thanks for the replies.I've been following the forum for some time,but somehow I missed this topic. Should have searched here instead of Google. The one thing that caught my attention was that I have been using bamboo for support stakes.

  It's a tough tree to lose,no doubt, but fortunately during the winter I had taken a shoot,and it is growing nicely. I'll just have to wait an extra year.

Burn the infected wood or tie it up tightly in a bag so they cannot escape to infect again.

My trees recovered very quickly after I gave up on saving the infected wood. 

Gofigure

   I have done that. I'm glad to hear that there is hope. I wish that I could get my hands on an atomic bomb to make sure that I get to the source of the problem.

I don't see borers in my figs, but the apple sure got them.  We have painted every trunk of every tree with 50% latex paint to prevent sunburn.  They really like sunburned trunks.  Good luck with this problem.
Suzi

Desert Dance,

  Thanks for the well wishes. I guess it's none the less sad that this tree was surrounded by three brown turkeys left untouched. I checked the  apple tree after reading your message. Can't see any evidence ,so I've got that to be thankful for.

We had a late freeze in mid March just after my 3-4 yr old Wonderful and Angel Red poms began to leaf out.  The freeze claimed the new tender leaves, and I found ~1inch saggy "thorns" on the trees within a few days that actually were the sawdust "turds" hanging from each hole. 

Interestingly, the Sweet pom in the group leafed out just after the freeze, suffered no damage from the freeze (apparently), and was not invaded at all by the borers.  None of my citrus/fig/persimmon trees were affected either.  These guys must be attracted to plants under stress.  I remain surprised that they are that selective.

I pulled the Wonderful (wasn't) and trimmed the AR (jury still out on whether this one is a keeper), though both had shown re-emergence throughout the trees, including the bored branches, beforehand. 

What is the natural history of disease for the borers?  Are the affected trunks destined to die, or are they merely hosts?  Is it dependant on the type of tree, or type of borer?

I took some pics of the trunks with the sawdust that I will post when I get the chance.

Tree's that are stressed seem to give off an alcohol smell since you can bait traps to find out when they become active.  Just make sure your traps are far away from your trees.  I wonder if tangle foot up the main trunk would help.  They tend to like thicker wood so shoots should be ok.  I had posted a copy of an article that in spring they tend to be attracted to over watered plants.  Maybe some figs are stress more by too much rain.

 The suggestion of overwatering is a possibility,as the tree spent the winter outside,and we've had an inordinate number of rainy days and warm temperatures in December and early  January,followed by colder than ususal later January through March. There are problems with some of my other fruit trees that I'm not sure I understand yet. I have to say that the fig tree I lost never was a vigorous grower in the first place, but I didn't think it was stressed,and I have about 15 other fig trees under the same conditions that are going like gangbusters.  Thanks for the response and suggestions.

Here is the link.  You will find more information if you search Ambrosia beetle and lots of pictures.
http://www.amerinursery.com/print-9444.aspx

good link, thanks btw

  http://www.amerinursery.com/growing/media/how-to-beat-the-beetles/

We had a nice, warm day up in the 70s here in NJ yesterday.  I caught two of these ambrosia beetles buzzing around (way too close to my garage, where I have a distressed fig tree in a rubbermade tote awaiting proper planting.)  Last year the peak of the emergence in my part of NJ occurred in May, so it is safe to say we're entering the early phase.  It probably would have happened earlier if the weather hadn't been so cold.
Jim

I saw a few damp spots on my largest tree the other day. A five year old Brown Turkey (I suspected it might be a Celeste, as the figs were actually tasty). I did not think anything of it. Today, I noticed the "wooden" toothpicks extruding from all its limbs. Upon closer inspection, I saw many, small dark beetles on its exterior. I did a bit of research here on our forum and decided the best thing to do was remove it. I cut it down completely and have removed from my yard. I am a feeling pretty blue as this was my largest tree and produced virtually all the figs I expected to harvest this year. I have planted a few 3 to 4 year old Celestes in the past week or so. I have a Peter's Honey in the ground that should produce a few figs. I hate these bugs! Going to get spray for my other trees tomorrow.

A couple pics...

These beetles are horrible.  They basically held my trees captive indoors last year.  There was no way I was putting my trees out with all the beetles swarming all over.  When I eventually did put them out (a month later than I would have liked), I managed to catch some "in the act" of boring into one of my trees.  I was able to stab them (or poke into the holes they dug, if they were already out of site) with a needle and then spray some pyrethrin into the holes.  Then I sprayed all my trees with pyrethrin.  The bulk of the swarm had ended by that point, so I didn't see any active boring after that.
  HOWEVER -- when looking at some of my trees as they were coming out of dormancy, I did find some bore holes.  They were all in the upper portion of some of the previous season's newly-rooted cuttings -- the section above the top node that eventually dies off.
  I have had one trap set up to monitor the emergence.  They have definitely begun to emerge up here in NJ -- not in huge numbers yet, but they're coming.
Jim