Borers in Methley plum tree

I have one Methley and one StarkBros (Starkcrimson?) which I am about to cut down and dig up the roots because of borers. I think, from my reading, they are lesser peach tree borers. The only insecticide I can buy is Permethrin (sp?) but I don't think it is very effective and I don't want to be out poking wires in all the borer holes. The deal is the pesticides which will kill them are too deadly for us homegrowers to use. I once had a peach tree and painted the borer holes with Lindane. It worked fine and I didn't die (yet) but I was very careful.

Several state ag extension services are not very encouraging - telling the reader to use a chem. which I can't buy (and don't want to).

Does anyone have suggestions before I turn on my chain saw? Thanks everyone.

Paul

There is not much that you can do, once the tree is badly infested. I have some luck with endosulfan (Thoidan) but it is not as effective as Lindane.

I had one in my Methley years ago and called the Extension Agent. He wasn't a bit of help and predicted it would die. I read somewhere that a bar of Lava Soap placed in the crotch of peach and plum trees was an effective deterrent. I bought some and put it on all my plum trees just in case.

The Methley lived and has been very productive. I haven't had any more borers. It's time to buy some more Lava. I don't know if it works or not but you might want to try it.

The only non-chemical remedy that I have heard of and tried was to take a piece of wire, heat the tip of it and jam it in the whole where the borer entered or where you see the sap exuding. But you would have to monitor and perform this very frequently.

Thanks, I guess I will see what the trees look like in the Spring, and remove them if they look bad. I thought they were safe because I hadn't seen any other fruit trees around here to harbor pests.
Paul

Well I compromised and only dug up the Starkcrimson and left the Methley , pruned it and thoroughly sprayed it and the ground beneath with permethrin which I already had. I am going to re-spray as often as I can. I recently bought a Hudson trombone sprayer which, to me, is a lot easier to mix and then clean after spraying than my pressure tank. I am planting grapes and there are always J beetles in the early Summer to kill. I usually use Sevin for them (very effective) but probably permethrin will do it too. My main concern it to avoid spraying when things are blooming as I don't want to kill bees (or mason bees).

I had a severe borer infestation in a shade tree a few years ago. Almost all useful chemicals are banned from retail sale here in California also. An arborist told me to buy an orange based termite spray from Lowes or Home Depot. Like a wire probe, you have to get into the borer tunnels. It worked.