Emerald Ash Borer

10 years ago

I had tree trimmers here last fall to trim some limbs. The head guy informed me that my ash has Emerald Ash Borer. He wanted to take it down right there, but I told him to hold off so I could think about it. The tree had leaves and I didn't notice a problem, but the tree guy saw right away that some branches were bare.

I've been doing some research on the types of treatment. The trunk has a 56" circumference and it's roughly 40 feet high. I'm going to talk to a nursery as well, but wondering if anyone has had experience with this? Can they be saved?

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Comments (11)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
do you have the only ash left in MI???

what did they tell you it would cost.. per year.. for the rest of your life ...

since cost is my biggest determinative factor... i would have been done with it last year ... one time expense ...

regardless of what you decide.. now is the time to plant a replacement or two ... i favor oaks.. down here in adrian mi ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: see link
SnailLover (MI - zone 5a)
Original Author
10 years ago
Maybe I do, Ken, lol. So none left where you are? I haven't priced any treatment yet. If this is something I will have to do every year to MAYBE save the tree, then I agree it isn't worth it. I was thinking you just treat it once and the larvae die. Maybe I'm wrong. I guess if it were that easy we'd still have ash trees. I'll call the extension office this week.

ETA: Oops, just noticed your link. Thanks, I will read up on it.

I did see an interesting article just now which makes me hopeful:

Here is a link that might be useful: Extreme cold may wipe out EAB larvae

This post was edited by SnailLover on Sat, Apr 26, 14 at 17:32
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mdo, I can shed a little light on this: With the Emamectin Benzoate-style treatments available now, tradenamed Tree-age (The 'a' has the two little umlauts or whatever they're called above it, and the word is pronounced like the word triage), it is reasonable to expect two solid years of control from a single treatment, and quite possibly three years. For high-value trees like yours, this seems like a reasonable thing to do. Alternatively, the Imidacloprid insecticides will give a single year's control but are easier to apply. So even that's not a crazy thing to do. Environmentally speaking, either one of these methods is fairly low risk to surrounding organisms, being either injected straight into the trunk, or spread on the ground and soaked in via watering or rainfall, depending on which chemistry you reach for. The other half of your question I can answer too: What seems to happen with EAB is similar to other exotic insect invasions-there is a ramping up period, a period of overwhelming infestation, and then, just as you'd probably expect,a leveling off period after the insects have killed most of their hosts. So if you do happen to save yours during the hot time, you would still need to treat to have the surety of protecting the trees, but overall pressure would level off a great deal. These two lines of thought are straight out of very recent arborist's convention/seminars, so they are up to date. The relevance of this winter's cold temps was also a hot topic (Buh dum bum), but in reality, most thought is that while some of the less-deeply positioned larvae may indeed be killed, EAB has two larval forms and one of them is positioned deeper into the trunk, likely meaning the weather will have fairly little impact one way or the other. We can always hope though! +oM
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6 months is most likely the half-life in soil. In a compost pile, with vigorous microbial activity, it is likely to be shorter than that. In a pile mixed with other materials, where leaves from a treated tree make up only part of the pile, there will not be much left at all. Usually people worry about two aspects: will it harm the garden plants or critters (a la persistent herbicides damaging plants), or is it potentially toxic to grow food in it? As for the former, once diluted with other ingredients, composted, diluted again by adding to soil, then diluted again because only a fraction would be taken up by plants (if at all), it seems unlikely that beneficial insects could be harmed. I don't know the mode of action of these ash borer pesticides (whether it works on the larvae, adult, etc.) or whether they are toxic to earthworms. I should think that the biodegradability of the stuff in the compost pile and all the dilution steps would result in much less of the chemical available compared to spraying it on the original tree. As for toxicity to humans, again there are multiple dilution and uptake steps combined with biodegradation. If I lived in a grove of all treated ash trees, I might not use the compost on my vegetables. Or at least I'd try to find out how fast it actually biodegrades and its relative toxicity to humans. But that's my bag, I know the average gardener is going to have to make a judgment call without consulting the scientific literature.
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gj, My understanding is the beetle lays it's eggs in the bark of the ash trees. I copied this from a CSU Forestry bulletin: The 1/2-inch long, dark green adult beetles are active from late May through July, as they feed on ash trees and lay eggs on the bark. After hatching, the resulting EAB larvae tunnel into the bark to feed in the phloem and outer sapwood layers of the tree, producing galleries that girdle and ultimately kill the tree within two to four years. These expanding S-shaped galleries can be located when the bark is removed. EAB adults typically fly up to a half-mile from where they emerge to infest new trees. Distribution of the pest over much longer distances is possible due to people transporting ash firewood, logs, nursery stock or other wood. gj, Is your concern the insecticide residue from ash leaves in your beds or is the worry the potential of transporting beetle larvae to a wider area? If you're worried about the residue, the chemical often used is a 1.47% imidacloprid solution. I found this info on imidacloprid from the National Pesticide Information Center: What happens to imidacloprid in the environment? Imidacloprid can last for months or years in soil. The residues become more tightly bound to the soil with time. Imidacloprid is broken down rapidly by water and sunlight. The pH and temperature of water affect the speed of the imidacloprid breakdown process. Imidacloprid may leach from soil into groundwater under some conditions. Imidacloprid is broken down into a number of other chemicals depending on which bonds in the molecule are broken. Can imidacloprid affect birds, fish, or other wildlife? Imidacloprid is not very toxic to birds and slightly toxic to fish, although this varies by species. Imidacloprid is very toxic to honeybees and other beneficial insects. The role, if any, of imidacloprid in Colony Collapse Disorder is not yet clear. Scientists have shown that plants grown in treated soil may have imidacloprid residues in their nectar and pollen at levels that are below those shown to cause effects on bees in laboratory experiments. Other beneficial animals may also be affected. Green lacewings did not avoid nectar of plants grown in soil treated with imidacloprid. The lacewings that fed from the treated plants had lower survival than lacewings that had not fed from treated plants. Ladybugs that ate aphids from plants grown in treated soil also showed reduced survival and reproduction. Scientists are actively studying the effects of imidacloprid on bees and other invertebrates. As they finish their studies, new information will be coming out that will help define the risks to these animals. I've inserted a link below to chemicals used to treat EAB. It's 15 pages or so and you'll need to scroll down 8 or 10 pages to reach the table in yellow listing the chemicals. This is probably way more than you wanted to know, sorry! Chemicals used to treat EAB Barb
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arbordave (SE MI)
10 years ago
If the dieback is limited to a few limbs you should still be able to save the tree. Check out pages 3 & 4 of this publication: "Insecticide Options for Protecting Ash Trees from Emerald Ash Borer" at www.emeraldashborer.info

As far as cold temps impacting EAB, see link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: EAB Can Survive Harsh Winter
SnailLover (MI - zone 5a)
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks arbordave! I saved the PDF and made note of the insecticides. I will call some arborists on Monday and see what they say. I think it's worth a shot. As for the cold weather, yeah, as cold as it was this winter, I don't think it was THAT cold. Darn.
SnailLover (MI - zone 5a)
Original Author
10 years ago
To update, I had an arborist look at the tree today. He specializes in EAB. He saw buds on most of the branches and said there's a good chance it can be saved if I treat it this year. He uses TREE-age, which is emamectin benzoate and says it's good for 2-3 years. $200. Would probably cost the same to have the tree cut down, so I feel it's worth a try. Turns out my boss used this same guy to treat a bunch of ashes on his property last year. We'll find out soon how well they leaf out this year.
wisconsitom
10 years ago
Right on the knife edege of advisability. In most cases, the treatments must be protective. Curative? Not so much.

You're willing to spend the $$ so in the end, it's your call. Let us know what happens next year and the year after. Emamectin is the best current material.

+oM
jrsavoie
9 years ago
I have 5 large Ash trees. I have been planting more trees, but I will be long gone before they are big enough to enjoy.

Could you recommend a specific product, where to buy and application info or links?

I was looking to hire the treating done, but haven't had any luck. I was just told to cut them down before they get infested - which makes no sense to me.

I am at least 1/2 mile from the nearest other Ash tree and the trees show no sign of infestation yet. I'd like to keep these from getting infested if possible

Thanks very much.
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
9 years ago
Jrsavoie, I ordered a few gallons of imadichloropid (spelling error) concentrate and have been spreading it around two of mine yearly. At first I was going to do just one but then I realized how long a supply I had.

Will it work? Who knows. That vitamin C pill might help keep the cold away and the cost is low so I take it. At the time no one locally was willing to warranty their snake oil treatment so I decided to do it myself. We are in the infancy of treating this bug. Next time I am in an area that has had a long term infestation I will see if there are any surviving ash in the parks or botanical gardens and report back with what they have been using.
SnailLover (MI - zone 5a)
Original Author
9 years ago
Forgot about this thread until I saw the new replies. I should've updated. This ash tree has a bifurcated trunk. The right side did pretty well all summer. The left side, I didn't notice until mid-summer, was dropping leaves and had many woodpecker holes in it. I called the arborist back and he injected a 2nd dose to the left side. I didn't notice any improvement, and this fall it dropped a lot of small branches. This spring I see buds forming on the right side but very few on the left, and it has more woodpecker holes than ever. Will update again when everything leafs out.
wisconsitom
9 years ago
sounds like it was too far gone for treatment to be effective, simple as that. Once the trunk is full of larvae, woodpeckers are busy eating them, the tree is pretty much done for.

BTW, the gold standard of treatment today is injections of emamectin benzoate, ie. "TreeAge" by the company Arborject. They sell the injection equipment. That chemcial is tre' spendy but one liter (right around $550) will treat many trees. Each treatment can last for 3 years with this method.

+oM
SnailLover (MI - zone 5a)
Original Author
8 years ago
Another update on the tree. The left side was slow to leaf out, but it finally did and looks pretty good. Much better than last year. There are some dead branches from before treatment, but what's up there now looks good. Trust me, this tree looks much better than it did last year. My boss had a whole forest treated by the same arborist and he said they're doing pretty well too. I'm remaining cautiously optimistic.

Emerald Ash Borer

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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Emerald Ash Borer

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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