Twig Borers aka My New Enemy

I have been working on this farm for 8 weeks now and it has been a huge learning experience. I came to the painful realization Friday that work on a farm, especially an organic farm, is never complete. For the 8 weeks I've been here I have been charged with the task of weeding, either by hand or using a weedwhacker. We finally completed the 5 acres about 3 weeks ago and it felt great to have accomplished something, to see results from my labor. Friday I was to begin a new project, ridding all the infected trees of the twig borers. I set out at the bottom of the farm and as I began I noticed that the weeds had already grown back around the trees. So much for my sense of accomplishment. Never again will I complain about the price of organic produce.
Now about those twig borers or ambrosia beetle or for their technical name, Xylosandrus compactus...
The female beetles bore holes into the branches of the coffee trees and cause a white fungus to grow (ambrosia), and then she lays her eggs on top of this fungus for her young to feed on once they hatch. The hole-boring process causes the branch tips to wilt, turn yellow, and then eventually die. This obviously creates problems for the coffee farmers because the death of these branches cuts back on the amount of viable crop. The trees are most succeptible to the twig borer during times of drought when they aren't getting the nutrients they need and are therefore stressed. The Kona coffee farmer has been dealing with a drought since 2003 so these little suckers have been reproducing in record numbers.
There seems to be no way to control these buggers. The safest way to help is to keep the trees healthy by frequent watering and fertilization. I am currently trying to get rid of the branches that are already affected. The prominent sign of infestation is premature yellowing of the leaves. Once the branches are located we bend them to test for weakness. If infested the branch will break where the beetle entered and then we remove and destroy them.
If my 8 weeks have taught me anything it's that when all the twig borers are destroyed there is sure to be something else to occupy my days. Maybe I will start unwrapping vines...again.