Bamboo powderpost beetle
Cut culms and poles fill with tiny round holes and pour out fine powder.
Also called
Bukbok
Crops it attacks
Where the damage shows
When to act
Check stored poles and cut culms every month for small round holes and fine powder. Treat or burn infested poles at once, so the beetles do not spread through the whole pile.
What to spray
- Deltamethrin (dip or spray on fresh culms)IRAC 3AShopeeLazada
- PermethrinIRAC 3AShopeeLazada
- Disodium octaborate tetrahydrateIRAC 8DShopeeLazada
Active ingredients only, never brands. The IRAC group tells how it works: switch to a different group next time, so the pest does not learn to survive it. Spray only when the damage is worth the cost, and only with products registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority for your crop. Follow the label. The Shopee and Lazada links only show who sells something with that active ingredient, not a recommendation of any seller or product.
How to prevent it
- Cut only mature culms of three years or more, in the dry season, when the starch the beetles feed on is lowest.
- Leave cut culms standing upright with branches and leaves on for a few weeks, so the leaves draw the starch out.
- Soak fresh culms in running or often changed water for several weeks to wash the starch out.
- Smoke or heat treat poles over a fire, or soak them in water with a boron salt, before use.
- Store poles dry, off the ground and under a roof, away from old infested bamboo.
Not sure it is this one?
Many pests look alike. Send a photo to Anee, the smart farm technician in anee.io. She reads it with your crop, its age and the weather, and tells you what it most likely is and what to do first. In Tagalog or English.