Peach-tree borers are worms with brown heads and cream-colored bodies. They're about one inch long when they're mature. Borers tunnel into the trunks of peach, nectarine, apricot, cherry, and plum trees. They can girdle or kill a tree, or weaken it, making it susceptible to other pests and diseases. A thick, gummy substance forms at the entrance to the bored hole, and a fine, sawdust-like substance comes from the holes. Let the gum remain because it seals the holes. You can plant garlic around the trunk to repel borers. Tie a bar of strong soap into the tree's lowest crotch so rains can wash it down the trunk, or treat the trees in mid-September with a 20-percent solution of lindane, soaking the infested area and surrounding the soil with at least a gallon for each mature tree and a half-gallon for smaller trees. Be sure to inspect for holes in the spring, then push in a flexible wire to kill the worms or cut them out with a knife.
