RE: Emerald Ash Borer Update

This is only one of the many frightful pests that have had devastating effects on our trees. So far we haven't had too much problems with the EAB here in Maryland, but the DNR always asks people to be on the lookout. I wonder if anyone will come up with a workable solution?

are you familiar with the long horned Asian beetle? here in central mass, our firewood is quaranteened, and the zone keeps getting expanded.
older beautiful neighborhood with 100 year old hardwood trees have been clear-cut.

http://massnrc.org/pests/alb/

My neighbor to my left has a huge dead ash from the beetle and two doors down there is a tree riddled with the bore holes. They both said when they can afford to take them down I could get the wood. I would not even dream of felling them because they are surrounded by buildings. I will leave those to the pros

mtbmike said:

are you familiar with the long horned Asian beetle? here in central mass, our firewood is quaranteened, and the zone keeps getting expanded.
older beautiful neighborhood with 100 year old hardwood trees have been clear-cut.

http://massnrc.org/pests/alb/

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Saw that little beastie on the TV Sunday. University of MD Extension guy said they are not here, but keep an eye out. I think we are going to turn into little Asia before long; we got the lovely Brown Mamorated Stinkbugs like crazy.

The metropark that is less then 100 yards from my property has cut down almost all the ash because of the EAB, I do all my training at the park and rive past it everyday to see more than 100 trees removed, some still lying on the ground. The state has lifted all restrictions for EAB because we have lost the battle.

fv

Until they start using a pesticide again its gonna start spiraling out of control. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I find it totally amazing how science wastes so much time on things like cloning and deep space exploration and all the while our planet is being destroyed. How 'bout a big WTF????

Its here in PA and getting closer and closer to me in the Southeast. Recent update it was spotted in a county just two over from me......just a matter of time I am sure. My parents have nothing but Ash on their property.....some big old ones too.....

http://ento.psu.edu/extension/trees-shrubs/emerald-ash-borer/timeline-of-eab-detection-in-pa

fireview2788 said:

The metropark that is less then 100 yards from my property has cut down almost all the ash because of the EAB, I do all my training at the park and rive past it everyday to see more than 100 trees removed, some still lying on the ground. The state has lifted all restrictions for EAB because we have lost the battle.

fv

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How depressing.

We've had the EAB quarantine in our area for the last 2/3 yrs. The campgrounds around here have signs up "Burn It Where You Buy It" to discourage campers from bringing in firewood for campfires.

This quarantine thing is frustrating - We've got around 8 cords of firewood sitting here but we buy firewood for our campsite.

Yes, we do practice "Burn It Where You Buy It".

Shari

Shari said:

We've had the EAB quarantine in our area for the last 2/3 yrs. The campgrounds around here have signs up "Burn It Where You Buy It" to discourage campers from bringing in firewood for campfires.

This quarantine thing is frustrating - We've got around 8 cords of firewood sitting here but we buy firewood for our campsite.

Yes, we do practice "Burn It Where You Buy It".

Shari

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The trouble with the whole quarantine is we're just dragging out the inevetible. To my knowledge there is no breakthrough in controling the borer (among the hundredes of other invasive insects and parasites that are EXPLODING in numbers).

Scotty Overkill said:

The trouble with the whole quarantine is we're just dragging out the inevetible. To my knowledge there is no breakthrough in controling the borer (among the hundredes of other invasive insects and parasites that are EXPLODING in numbers).

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1+

To all who have marketable ash tree, sell now!

Lots of cutting and burning was done in MI to stop the EAB. None of it did a lick of good. Our township supervisor went to many meetings about the bug and in the end, they all admitted that whatever they did was only a slow-down thing. Inevitable is the fact that all ash trees will get the bug and all ash trees will die.

We watched and listened in our area. Kept track of our woods too. When we found the first tree with the D-shaped holes we cut it and burned it. Looked for other trees that had been infested and found none. Today though, all our ash trees are dead....and we had lots of them. The only bright spot is that it makes excellent firewood.

Scotty Overkill said:

Until they start using a pesticide again its gonna start spiraling out of control. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I find it totally amazing how science wastes so much time on things like cloning and deep space exploration and all the while our planet is being destroyed. How 'bout a big WTF????

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Don't blame the scientists. Blame the politicians, if you need a scapegoat. The lack of response is a result of funding and regulation, not science.

dannynelson77 said:

Its here in PA and getting closer and closer to me in the Southeast. Recent update it was spotted in a county just two over from me......just a matter of time I am sure. My parents have nothing but Ash on their property.....some big old ones too.....

http://ento.psu.edu/extension/trees-shrubs/emerald-ash-borer/timeline-of-eab-detection-in-pa

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Thanks for the link.

I'm just throwing it out there. After these devastating losses, you would think the government would put restrictions in place for the import of wood products and wood shipping crates. Maybe certification that the wood was kiln dried to kill the bugs or use some sort of recycled product to make packing containers. How much is it costing the taxpayer for all this effort to stop the inevitable. Zebra mussels come to mind as well as purple loosestrife out in this area.

Here in IL where I live, evergreens, mostly blue spruce, but others as well are dying left and right. No one seems to know what it is for sure. From what I can find out it is some kind of fungus. I have 6 Blue Spruce and it looks like I may loose all of them. Then there is the oak diseases. If my oaks go, I have nothing left. It took me my entire life to grow these trees.

Joful said:

Don't blame the scientists. Blame the politicians, if you need a scapegoat. The lack of response is a result of funding and regulation, not science.

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I'm blaming both politicians AND scientists. This cloning bullcrap, and space exploration........waste of time and money. Lets get real about saving our forests, our air, our water. Let's quit listening to one group to not do this and one group to not do that. Let's get the corruption out and the truth in. Lets lose this fantasy of life on Mars and spend those BILLIONS of dollars on a cure for some of the devestation that is going to happen to our natural resources. It's not just the ash tree thats in trouble, its every tree out there. There is a bug and/or fungus for every species of tree, and they are all going out of control. Not to mention ticks, bedbugs, etc. This is where the money and research needs to go. Not to some probe on Mars. Totally ridiculous IMHO.....

Personally spotted what I'm 90% sure was an EAB here but was unable to capture the little bastard. I live in a quarantined county as well which is a MAJOR PIA since I live right on the line with a non-quarantined county. There are some situations where I can't haul wood 5 miles. Let alone the 50 mile restriction everywhere else. Last I knew the bugs don't give a s*** where the county line is.

Backwoods Savage said:

To all who have marketable ash tree, sell now!

Lots of cutting and burning was done in MI to stop the EAB. None of it did a lick of good. Our township supervisor went to many meetings about the bug and in the end, they all admitted that whatever they did was only a slow-down thing. Inevitable is the fact that all ash trees will get the bug and all ash trees will die...

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Perhaps not Dennis. Remember that the Dutch Elm disease is/was rampant, but there are quite a few elms to be seen. There is one on my front lawn as a matter of fact. But looking at the bigger picture, it is frightening to think that many of the species that are common might be decimated save for a few pockets here & there. Where I am, the gypsy moth has destroyed the tops of whole stands of softwood. Up in central Ontario, it is becoming more difficult to find white birch stands that haven't fallen over. I wonder if our forest stands will be monoculture stands in a few decades. Hate to think of it.

Realstone said:

Perhaps not Dennis. Remember that the Dutch Elm disease is/was rampant, but there are quite a few elms to be seen. There is one on my front lawn as a matter of fact. But looking at the bigger picture, it is frightening to think that many of the species that are common might be decimated save for a few pockets here & there. Where I am, the gypsy moth has destroyed the tops of whole stands of softwood. Up in central Ontario, it is becoming more difficult to find white birch stands that haven't fallen over. I wonder if our forest stands will be monoculture stands in a few decades. Hate to think of it.

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It's a real bugger with all the pests we have now that we didn't have years ago. Yes, I recall when the dutch elm disease hit many moons ago. Yes, we still have elm but they don't get very big here. We have lots of them that get to 12" and sometime much less and then die. It is rare to find one 18" across. So we have them, but they don't last long.

With they gypsy moth, we feared the worst but fortunately that did not happen. We had them 3 years extremely bad but then they left. Since that time (late 80's) we find only a few every year. Sad to hear about the birch and we hear from others about the pines and spruce. On our place, we cut off a large area of pines because many were dieing. Sad to have to do that but at least we got a couple dollars from them rather than just a bunch of dead trees.

Yes, one does wonder what things will be like in another 20 years.

Backwoods Savage said:

It's a real bugger with all the pests we have now that we didn't have years ago. Yes, I recall when the dutch elm disease hit many moons ago. Yes, we still have elm but they don't get very big here. We have lots of them that get to 12" and sometime much less and then die. It is rare to find one 18" across. So we have them, but they don't last long.

With they gypsy moth, we feared the worst but fortunately that did not happen. We had them 3 years extremely bad but then they left. Since that time (late 80's) we find only a few every year. Sad to hear about the birch and we hear from others about the pines and spruce. On our place, we cut off a large area of pines because many were dieing. Sad to have to do that but at least we got a couple dollars from them rather than just a bunch of dead trees.

Yes, one does wonder what things will be like in another 20 years.

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Well like I said, I'm thinking monoculture. Boring and perhaps the lack of variety will stress other species of animals that depend on variety. BTW, is BeGreen on vacation? I thought that he would be weighing in on such a topic by now.

My brother had an EAB tree in Lorton, VA (DC 'burb). They came and ground it up. In the nearby Shenandoah National Park, I hear fellow campers complaining they can't bring their own campfire wood like it's a grand conspiracy to take another 5 bucks off them. The hemlocks are alreadty devestated there. Unfortunately, it only takes one person to spread EAB, so my outlook is pretty bleak. They are monitoring here in the ShenValley, but I haven't heard of any EAB yet. If You see purple 2' long rectangles hanging in trees, those are the monitor traps. Hopefully we can find a parasitic wasp to fight 'em. Got a nice population of anti-tomato hornworm wasps I started with an infected hornworm I found. Only see 3-4 a year and they get whacked quick.

My mom is losing a green ash in her front yard. Has the classic symptoms of eab (dying from the crown/woodpecker activity)
I have noticed a lot of dead & dying ash trees within the last few years down here in northern Ky. We also had 2 real bad droughts several years ago that didnt help either. Probably close to 1/2 of what I'll be burning next year will be white ash.
Thanks to that pesky little borer!
Mother nature is pretty tough. She always seems to bounce back. Chestnut & American Elm were virtually wiped out.
Now, there are varieties of American Elm that is resistant to Dutch Elm. Also, work is being done on the American chestnut.
There are a lot of ash seedlings that are sprouting in the woods. Hopefully, they may make it to be big trees & the threat of eab is long gone. I'm sure there will be another pest or disease that will take it's place. There always is & mother nature keeps going.

Got to thinking - I DID hear about them using a wasp....freaky stuff:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/121358734.html