Our native Redbay trees (Persea borbonia) face possible extinction from a fungus being spread by a small exotic beetle called the Redbay Ambrosia Beetle (Xyleborus glabratus). First detected in a trap near Port Wentworth, Georgia in 2002, it has spread up and down the east coast and is now found from North Carolina to Florida. This is the twelfth species of non-native ambrosia beetle known to have become established in the U.S. since 1990. All are suspected to have been introduced in solid wood packing materials such as crates or pallets.

The beetle itself is a small (2 mm) blackish, elegant, cylindrical beetle similar in appearance to many other native and non-native species. Little is known about it's actual biology, but like many other ambrosia beetle species, it does not actually feed on the wood. Instead the adults and larvae feed on fungi that are introduced into galleries in the sapwood by females. It is this fungus that causes the trees to die.

The fungus is now believed to be an undescribed Raffaelea species that causes Laurel Wilt disease, a destructive disease of trees in the Lauracae family. The female beetles carry the fungus spores in their mouthparts introducing them into the water conducting sapwood of the tree. This allows the fungus to move quickly through the vascular system of the tree causing wilt and death in a matter of weeks to a few months. Other adults then attack the dying tree and reproduce; the new females then fly away in search of a new host with the fungus in their mouthparts.

In addition to the Redbay trees, Laurel Wilt is known to attack Avocados (Persea Americana) as they are in the same family. There have already been confirmed deaths of Avocado trees in Indian River County. If the beetle continues to spread south the avocado industry in South Florida will be devastated.

There is no known control of the beetle; however root flair macro infusions of the systemic fungicide Propiconazole have proven effective in preventing Laurel Wilt. We now offer this procedure to protect your valuable Redbay trees.

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