As menacing as it might look, the large adult Palo Verde root borer is far from harmful to people or their pets. However, while this beetle causes you no harm, Palo Verde root borers pose a danger to your trees, especially palo verde trees of the genus Parkinsonia.
Read on to learn all you need to know about this root borer’s tree root damage and how scheduling tree care services from a certified arborist in Phoenix can help.
What Is a Palo Verde Root Borer?
Palo Verde root borers are a type of large beetle located throughout the United States’ southwest portion. They are dark brown to black, three to four inches long, and members of the Longhorn family.
These beetles spend most of their time underground, only surfacing when fully grown and looking for a mate. Once they do, the female Palo Verde beetle will lay its eggs in the soil, right near a tree’s roots. The egg hatches into a beetle larva, also known as a grub, which hastily bores right into the roots of trees to eats for about three to four years before becoming big enough to resurface.
The Danger Palo Verde Root Borers Cause
Is a Palo Verde root borer destructive toward hardwood trees? Yes, especially the tree species that take more than 20 years to reach maturity.
And if that wasn’t enough, these borers are extremely difficult to detect because they are mostly active at night. When adults surface, they also quickly mate, lay eggs, and then die. In most cases, your tree could suffer from years of root damage as grubs hatch in the soil before you notice.
Can You Prevent Palo Verde Root Borers?
As challenging as they are to detect, there are measures you can put in place to prevent Palo Verde root borers from damaging your trees.
Palo Verde beetles are common during the monsoon season. In places like Phoenix, AZ, this typically starts in June and lasts until September, causing high humidity, heavy rain, and thunderstorms. The conditions provide a root borer with the moisture it needs to survive, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to keep your trees safe.
Here’s how to prevent Palo Verde root borer beetles from damaging your trees.
Care for Your Trees To Keep Root Borers Away
In most cases, Palo Verde root borers only attack trees that are poorly maintained or sick. As such, the best way to keep these sneaky root borers and their grubs away from your beautiful tree is to ensure it remains as healthy as possible. For example, you should water your trees regularly and feed them vitamin-rich soil.
If you need some help, feel free to reach out to local tree care experts like Tree Workers of Phoenix. We can help you prune your trees the right way and assess them for tree health problems.
Eradicating the Beetles
Besides caring for your trees, you can also keep them safe by physically killing the beetles to prevent them from making your tree a host plant. This might stop the cycle.
Quality Tree Care Services in Phoenix, AZ
Do you know how to tell if a tree is sick or under attack from pests? Understandably, the first instinct of most tree owners who detect Palo Verde beetles is to contact an exterminator. However, opting for professional tree care services is often the better course of action.
Call Tree Workers of Phoenix at 602-320-2797 today, and let us keep your tree safe from Palo Verde root borer beetles, diseases, and more in Arizona.
