Ask-a-Dave's-Gardener: Elderberry shoot borer, 3 by faithinhealing

faithinhealing wrote:
Help! I\'m seeing tons of my elderberry bushes with stem damage from an Elder Shoot borer. They are eating my small shoots even though I trimmed this bush practically to the ground last year. I even removed any dead canes from my bush to discourage them from pupating. Would putting Diatomaceous earth kill the adults? It says in late July they come out to drill into dead wood to lay their eggs. They are ruining my bushes! I don\'t want to use pesticides on my bushes since I use the berries. Help!