Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Emerald Ash Borer

Hey all, I treated my Green Ash tree late summer/ early fall of last year with a recomended treatment of a product I purchased from E.M. Garden center.It was a systemic/ root treatment. It does not appear to have worked, as my tree looks even worse than last year. Has anyone treated their trees with any success? If so what chemical/ method was used? I really hate to lose this tree! It used to be an absolutely beautiful ash tree.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Contact your county agent and ignor the advertising, especially from small companies. There are highly effective insecticide treatments to save your tree. I work for one of the big companies, but your county agent will recomend the best options.

Not looking forward to the beetles making their way into my neck of the woods... We have already lost enough species of trees to diseases and insects as it is!

Travis -- I'm surprised you haven't experienced them yet -- or that you haven't been put on alert to lookout for vehicles hauling firewood from outside of Fairfax county. We have been quarantined for several years from moving firewood across the state or county lines. I think it extends into all of Northern VA, most of MD, and most of PA (U of MD Emerald Ash Borer Info).

They invaded our county a few years back. The only positive was that it created a lot of firewood for a couple of years. At our previous residence, there was about a 150 x 250 foot swath of ash between our house and the next door neighbor's. The ash all died before we knew what was happening.

Ken

CJ, when the leaves on Ash trees begin to have a bit of a curl to them......and you think it must be from dry weather......probabaly the EAB. Mine has been suffering for 2-4 years now, and I finally realized what it was last summer. I'm actually surprised it has made it this long after reading about it.

I am very aware of them Ken. We had a couple of lectures on them when I took a dendrology class at PSU about 10 years ago. I just have not seen any damage to any of the ash trees here in VA or on our hunting land in PA. I am sure it is just a matter of time though before they show up... Fortunately we don't have too many ash trees on our hunting land in PA.

It's sad thinking of all the tree species that have or soon will be devistated by disease or insect damage here in the east.

American chestnut
American elm
Canadian hemlock
butternut
ash species
fir species

I have heard our native oaks will be attacked here soon by a new imported disease...

I have used this product with success (http://www.acecap-medicap.com/), however it's sad to say any long-term treatment is not really feasable.

You need to apply any treatments before the borers get into the tree. If you are seeing significant signs such as the tops (crown) dying off or "tunnels" under the bark you are probably to late to save the tree.

I have a tree farm and had to cut down hundreds of 3-4" diameter Autumn Purple, Patmore and Summit Ash last year. Made me sick.

The borer doesn't seem to bother trees under 2" diameter so don't bother treating trees under that size.

It is interesting what has happened over the last century. I live on a WV/VA ridge known as Timber Ridge. When I started taking out trees -- whether they were big white pine, red/chestnut/white oak, hickory, whatever, nearly all of them dated back to the late 1920s and early 1930s. An old friend told me that this ridge was populated with chestnut trees, and when they died out, these are the trees that took their place. I still have the remnants of many chestnut split rail fences on my property. If the oaks go, I'm in real trouble. Probably about 75% of my trees are a mix of three kinds of oaks -- probably 50% chestnut oak, 30-40% red oak, and the remainder are white oak.

I've started planting sawtooth oaks just in case we lose all our native oaks. They are very fast maturing compared to native oaks, producing acorns in 10-15 years or less.

CJ:

Do some research on them. I think Indiana just changed their mind on them and now considers them invasive, or at least not recommended to plant. But it's late and I'm tired, so I could be completely off base.

I can believe that. I haven't looked to confirm that but will. I see them sprouting up along the medians in MD when I am driving between my house and hunting cabin in PA. Anywhere adult trees were planted it seems there are seedlings coming up. There are a few areas near my house where I see this as well. I have yet to see this on my hunting land in PA as the deer suck up the acorns like vacuums and I am betting would mow down the seedlings should any sprout. I'd rather have invasive oaks than no oaks at all. I don't know sawtooth oaks competing well with native oaks in a normal forest setting as they don't get near the size our native oaks do. Would be interesting to look into though...