Are these Corm Borers??
 

I was walking through the patch when I noticed a small Manzano that was stunted and looked pretty terrible, that wasn’t getting enough sun. I pushed on it, and to my surprise, it leaned over. Then I noticed the corm had snapped off a little below the soil. I lifted it up, and the corm was rotten, and there was a grub peeking out at me from a tunnel in the corm! Oh horror of horrors!

I immediately dug out the whole corm and put it all in a bucket. I didn’t see any borer damage in the pstem, and I haven’t noticed any adult weevils anywhere. I really, really hope this isn’t the dreaded Corm Borer.

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

Nasty! Do a full pathology exam/inspection on it and toss in the garbage. Gross!

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

I inspected it and found they are into the lower p stem as well. Edit: Definitely Corm Borers. I found a handful of adult weevils hiding in the destroyed corm. :0493::0493::0493::0493::0493::0493:


What I don't know is if they will spread to every banana plant I have and destroy them. Of course I will destroy this plant as well as all the grubs, but I doubt I have gotten them all. If they are in one, are they in a lot of them? I also don't know how I ended up with them. Is this the end of banana growing in my yard?

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

Is there a way to organically treat these besides setting weevil traps and manually crushing them?

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

Try mixing diatomaceous earth, or granite dust into the soil when you do your planting. It tears up the flesh of grubs/larvae.

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

I have zero expertise in this area ... but can say they (banana root borer weevils - Cosmopolites sordidus) are ubiquitous in my patches and probably all over the island (Oahu). My bananas grow just fine in spite of them.

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

Does it look like the grub back in post #1 and the beginning of the thread?

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

That's very interesting that the weevil was eating a Manzano. The Manzano is very resistant to attracting weevils, meaning weevils prefer eating other varieties before the Manzano. I've seen Manzano that have been growing in the wild for over a hundred years and the bananas growing around them had weevils but the Manzano were weevil free.

What other varieties do you grow?

Plantains are probably the most desirable meal for weevils.

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

yeah....it did, and i found a second dead one (it didn't squirm or anything) and for 2 days i have been looking for evidence of destruction and I think I might have killed my tree looking for these damn bugs. I HATE BUGS. and this tree was doing so well, but the dirt and the roots are like, "wet" according to the meter, yet I cannot loosen it up to examine the corm i am so mad. the corm i have cut thru like 1/4 in deep and 2 in wide, nothing. pstem nothing and it is sooo skinny now bc of my obsessive inspecting for bugs

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

That's interesting!

I grow a handful of varieties, all dessert bananas, no plantains. If you want you can see what I am growing, they are in my profile. I haven't found weevils on any other banana plant yet, I haven't dug up all of them to check, but I have dug up some old corms and dug some pups and haven't found any weevils or weevil damage.

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

I think you need to stop obsessing and let the plant do its thing. It's very doubtful you would have borers in NC, and the tree was healthy and doing great until you started digging around and cutting into the corm. It would help if you could post a picture of the grub because we have grubs in our backyard that look similar to borders but are harmless. They have "legs" and are kind of shaped like a 'C'. Borer grubs don't have legs and aren't curved. But both are white and could look similar to someone afraid they are borers. Also the fact it was in the soil, not the corm, could mean it isn't a borer. It most likely wouldn't be in the soil, it would be in the corm where you couldn't see it.

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

Is your Manzano part of the Silk subgroup?

It's common here for members to use the same name for cultivars that are in different subgroups.

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

It's "the Manzano". It's been affirmed by Gabe.

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

Hello everyone! :nanadrink:

Banana pups are coming up everywhere. Since I found banana borers, I haven't sold any pups. I have only found borers on that one plant. I've dug up old corms and pups near and farther away from where this plant was, and have found no sign of them in the corms.

My question is this: am I safe to start selling pups again (of course inspect corms and do bleach or hot water)?

Re: Are these Corm Borers??
 

Anyone?