Page 24 - BSAM 2016 Q3

WOOD WORK
It was seven years ago when we last cleaned the dead wood on this tree. e wood seems to be in a good state and has the hardness particular to this species. Dirt and grit have managed to accumulate along the grain of the wood, thus clean up is in order.
We have also noted the presence of borer holes that were not there when we last worked on the tree. Of
equal diameter and alignment, these holes have prob- ably been made by a xylophagous insect, which makes taking care of the problem a priority.
Generally speaking, wood borers (xylophagous) aren’t a [problem as they only eat dead wood. Sometimes they even bene t the design, creating ssures and holes on the wood. e problem is taming them....
We begin at the base. In this part we have dead bark that covers the With a small chisel and a metal gouge, we rectify the live vein.. dead wood.
These holes pinpoint the presence of wood borers..... We keep pinpointing the affected zone and discover that the borer galleries extend to the nebari.
22 | BCI | July/August/September 2016