Dealing with Ambrosia Beetles

I dealt with these beetles during the spring of 2025, and I even blogged about it. I had to drastically cut back the branches of one of my potted fig trees. Now it’s spring 2026, and the tree still hasn’t woken up, but I have it isolated and have been checking on it every day. Ach du lieber!

Here is the figgy all by itself just sitting there begging for help.

I’ve circled a tiny infestation on the bark. Also, on the base of the tiny tree you can see the wood shavings piling up.

Here is another area where there are two additional holes and also I’m pointing to the wood shavings on the base of the tiny tree.

I have a Facebook account and follow several fig-specific groups where I regularly contribute. I often see posts from people dealing with ambrosia beetles. Typically, they share images showing the telltale symptom—white, angel hair pasta-like tubes, about an inch long, protruding from the bark of the fig tree.

Surprisingly, I searched online for a specific product that would effectively deal with these pesky beetles, but came up empty. Several internet searches yielded no meaningful results. Finally, I searched for ‘ambrosia beetle treatment’ and found a PDF on the American Chestnut Foundation website that addressed the issue.

They don’t recommend any specific product; however, they provide a list of active ingredients to look for:

• Bifenthrin, an insecticide sold under a variety of names and can be found at most garden stores;
• Pentra Bark, a bark penetrant.

Feel free to read the information by visiting this article.

I’ve already ordered a product containing Pentra Bark and it’s on its way already. No affiliation with the following product.

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Stay tuned, keep on rootin’ and happy growing!