Before I got this tree from a friend, it had been in the same container and soil for about three years with no fertilizer use and was also left outside for a few cold nights last winter (Zone 6, Middle Tennessee). Regardless of the neglect, it looked very healthy, but no sign of figs, when I picked it up in the beginning of May. I transplanted it to a large container using quality peat-based soil. I waited a few weeks, then I added some organic 2-2-2 fertilizer. The tree seems to be doing well, and now with about 25 small figs. But, today I noticed some holes have appeared in the main trunk. Most of them seem to be 'oozing' rather than the protruding 'sawdust rods' that I've seen on other threads. I'm very new at this, so if anyone is willing to answer my newbie questions I would greatly appreciate it!

-Am I misdiagnosing the problem?

-I've read that if a borer enters a healthy tree it can be drowned out by sap. Is that why the tree is oozing from the bore holes instead of the sawdust protrusions appearing?

-What is my best option?

One option I have been considering is air layering the top branch, then cutting the tree level with the soil and burning the infested wood. Or I could just try cutting off all of the figs to concentrate the tree's energy on growth, and therefore force more sap into the trunk. But I have no idea if that will actually work. Please help!


         

use a wire or hanger and try to kill it and the egg

I use a chemical called Borer spray for my fruit trees, just got done spraying them.

Hey Guys,
I unfortunately have had a lot of past experience with all these borers ..... They originally attacked all my mango trees in Florida ...... And eventually in NY got to some of my figs ...... Alanmercieca has it correct about that they do not attack healthy trees and they are attracted to the sap ...... My dad years ago did use the old pin or hanger to crush them but the fungus some of them tranfer can be te killer problem...... When ever I prune I use a thin layer of paraffin and it has seemed to work very well to not spread the sap.....I do cut the trees from below the lowest bored hole and then I take cuttings from the above good branches to root...... The chemical cypermethrin in the home defense spray that is at Walmart that is the key chemical all borers do not like, so you can spray that on the left over trunk or around the pots to drive them away.....they like soft wood so they tend to go to the pine trees in the area.....I hope this helps

 I'm not sure, but I would remove the pine bark around your tree.  The borers may have been in that bark and then got in your tree.  A man told me he had put a lot of wood chips around his fig tree and then his tree was killed by borers.

Borers and scale are very active now! you can see them if you hang around the tree.
This year has been a bad year so far, this is the third time I am spraying for fungus and scale.

Thank you all for your advice! I think that I will go with the consensus and cut the tree down below the lowest bore hole. But first, I'd like to share some interesting observations over the past week.

For a few days, I could see larvae at the ends of the bore holes. I poked around with a paperclip and I could actually see the larvae retreat immediately into the tree. After poking all of the holes with a paperclip, the larvae were still showing up at the ends of the bore holes after a while (for air?...). Since I obviously wasn't able to kill them with the paperclip, I tried boring out one of the holes a little bit with a drill bit. This allowed me to see that the larva was able to make a turn into another bore hole to escape the paperclip. With all hope lost, I grabbed my pruners and was about to cut down the tree, but then I saw some ants grouping around the hole that I had just bored out. I decided to watch them for a while, and I realized that they were eating larvae! I bored out every hole in the tree in the same manner, and ants showed up and started pulling out larvae from each hole!

Shown in the pictures below are ants grouped around the white larva. The bottom picture shows an ant carrying a larva away from the tree.

 
 
 

This process went on for several days. Now, the ant activity has reduced significantly and I am no longer able to see any larva in the bores.

-Have any of you seen this before?

-As of now, I still plan on cutting down the tree due to the risk of a fungal disease and the potential for remaining larvae. Do any of you believe that the ants could have been thorough enough to save the tree?

-Do any of you think that the ants could have been thorough enough that I could at least wait until dormancy to cut down the tree?


Again, I thank you all! I really appreciate the responses. 

I wonder if you had  closed the holes with wax would the larvae asphyxiate?
I would certainley would try it. Because after you cut it is too late for the poor fig tree.  You say they seem to come to the entrance for air. That should give them some problems.Just a crazy idea like that.
Hope the ants cleaned everything.
Best wishes

by sticking the paperclip in you are hoping to kill the larvae, the ants and other insects will do the job of eating whats left. I wouldn't cut it down, once you kill the borer, you should be good. I would also spray some  dormant oil with borer killer in the holes and plug them.

The beetle is called ambrosia beetle. The only way to get rid of them is to never use bamboo. Bamboo is seasoned with alcohol . This alcohol scent calls the beetles. At first they will hit your bamboo stakes. Next they will hit your Figs.

I fill every hole with wood glue. If you see sawdust on the ground around your trees, it's too late and the damage is done. Your tree will look fine then dead 2 days later. Spray raid early and keep spraying!!!!

I didn't read all of the posts but if you want to go the organic way, just use worm tea.  You can either buy it or make it yourself.  I spray it on everything.  It keeps my trees healthy and it really can grow gigantic fruit, vegetables, etc.  By the way, I have a Hong Kong orchid tree that also had a similar problem and that's how I resolved it.

Worm tea info is everywhere on line but if you want to make a basic tea just add worm castings to a sock, tie it up and hang it in a buck of water (rain water is preferred if organic).
Amazon has worm castings.  I found this brand is well priced and I recommend it:  "Unco Industries Wiggle Worm Organic Earthworm Castings Fertilizer, 30-Pound."  I have a worm farm so I just go to the spigot and get the tea. But, yes, that's what I would do.