borers do not remove all bark.. in a circle around the trunk ...

some kind of vermin ... but i cant tell from this pic ...

i am surprised they are not dead ...

replace them.. and FIND OUT what is doing it ... you might want to consider some protection..

and you might try mouse or rat traps.. to ID the culprit ...

ken

That looks to be rodent (mouse or vole) damage from last winter. Even after that level of damage the plant will leaf out in the spring, but won't thrive, and may not even stay alive too long. I wouldn't want to replace that if I were the nurser owner...it really isn't their fault.

Yep, as a nursery owner, I would be hesitant to replace stock from damage not incurred by my actions. Yes, I have gotten calls from folks who have had insect/rodent problems and they usually tip-toed around asking me to replace them, but my stock (as any legitimate nursery) was inspected and found free of disease and vermin. I would gladly replace it if I found any on site with a similar problem and also be happy a customer made me aware of it so I could handle it on my end. But, I would be hesitant to replace it if it weren't my fault. Only got pushed to do so once, by a retailer whose customer wanted to return stuff them them they had purchased from me. I told them since it impacted their customer relations, yes I would on the condition that their end customer removed all the plants and returned them to their store. I wanted to see what was going on with them for my own satisfaction and also to make it less easy for a consumer to do a replacement out of some frivolous reason. Hah. When I picked the returned stock up, it end up being a few dozen garden mums. Healthy as He**, just had finished blooming and they wanted to replace them with a couple dozen more with a later bloom date, for free no less, I suspect. This is rodent damage. If you replace them it'll happen again and again until you protect them in some way with guards. Do what your conscience tells you.

I certainly would not want to return a bush that had been damaged by voles so I took the bush to the University Plant Services. They washed the roots and evaluated the stem and determined the damage to be borers. (Pix is of another bush with moderate damage..notice small holes) I have one bush the nursery replaced that we haven't planted yet and it has girdling as well with little holes and I saw a very small insect with orange on it but it disappeared in the soild so fast didn't get a good look. So question... What is your recommendation...better to get new healthy plants the same height but smaller root ball (3 instead of 10) and lose a year growth or replace only those severly girdled. How much girdling would you consider survivable? If replacing, how would you treat the soil to prevent transfer of these insects?

Also, how would you protect the stem of the new bushes in the winter from voles.

You did the responsible thing. I can see holes now. I apologise for saying it was rodent damage, because that is the typical presentation of it, and exactly where they attack. You are saying you have a replacement shrub from the nursery with the same type of damage on it you haven't put in the ground yet? If you do and it hasn't been sitting around at your property in a pot for an extended period, then I'd say the nursery has a problem and it should be brought to their attention. And yes, I'd expect replacements. There are rodent guards one can buy for trees, and they can also be fashioned out of metal mesh to protect this vulnerable area of bark. Care must be taken, however, so that the growth of the stock can be accomodated and not compromised by them.

Also, how would you protect the stem of the new bushes in the winter from voles.

What part of the country do you live in, and did the University tell you what kind of borers caused the damage? This second pic looks more like what Viburnum borer (Synanthedon viburni)can do, but the tiny pinhole is something different. It sort of looks like an ambrosia beetle hole, but that insect does not cause damage like what you have shown.

The first picture still looks more like rodent damage, unless it is just really heavy viburnum borer damage. I am not seeing it up close like a diagnostician did, so it would be nice to hear what they decided it was, and if they found any life stages of a borer. As far as protecting a shrub like that from voles...maybe a bit of aluminum foil or something wrapped around the trunk.