Ash Borer - Cold Temps

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Badger

Burning Hunk
Oct 2, 2012
103
Central Minnesota
  • Like
Reactions: Soundchasm
As much as I dislike the extreme (and extended) cold temps that we have had as of late I am hoping that it kills off or slows up some of the pests . . . until a few years ago when we started getting milder winters we rarely saw a tick except once in a while on a pet dog or cat. Now if you go hiking in the woods you will come back with a few nearly every time.
 
my dog was collecting ticks,, i swear he knows where they all live. We got guineas to eat them. Those birds are noisy and kind of crazy, but now we like them. They are the best tick control in existence.

I have hundreds, yes i mean hundreds, of ash trees in my back yard that need cut and burnt now, thanks to that ash bore.
 
As much as I dislike the extreme (and extended) cold temps that we have had as of late I am hoping that it kills off or slows up some of the pests . . . until a few years ago when we started getting milder winters we rarely saw a tick except once in a while on a pet dog or cat. Now if you go hiking in the woods you will come back with a few nearly every time.

Well I think we certainly are going put the theory to the test cause it is cooold here!
 
All our animals found the ticks last year...dogs, cats and horses. For awhile I would not even think of taking my dogs for a walk as they were sure to have several on them.
I hope they all freeze to death this winter!
 
Sorry to go off topic but I share this cautionary tale whenever I see a discussion of ticks. Beware of Lyme Disease. I'll spare you the details but my son had gastrointestinal Lyme that went misdiagnosed for two years. It was hell. Once diagnosed he treated with the proper antibiotics and was fine. Google "LLMD" (lyme literate medical doctor) if you or a loved one has ANY unexplained illness. If this cold kills tick larvae, bring it on!
 
Hope the cold weather helps you guys out in the Northern states. I know you guys have been hit hard by the borer.
 
Our Ash trees are already doomed. The cold may kill off a lot of them, but they'll be back with a vengeance. Although I would think a bug killing cold would slow down their southern travel.

The pest I'm most interested in killing is the stink bug. Year before last was bad, but this past September, they were horrid. They like to hibernate in attics, soffits or any crack where they can steal a little heat from a house. These bugs will decimate a vegetable garden, especially tomatoes. I'm optimistic that this cold air will kill a lot of them.
I've found a way to keep them out of my garden and house, but I'd love to see their overall numbers decrease.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Soundchasm
also kills the pine beetle but it has to be a long cold spell. Was hoping for the places out west that it would happen with this polar vortex
 
my dog was collecting ticks,, i swear he knows where they all live. We got guineas to eat them. Those birds are noisy and kind of crazy, but now we like them. They are the best tick control in existence.
They are also a great alarm system........make tons of noise if bothered.
 
Our Ash trees are already doomed. The cold may kill off a lot of them, but they'll be back with a vengeance. Although I would think a bug killing cold would slow down their southern travel.

The pest I'm most interested in killing is the stink bug. Year before last was bad, but this past September, they were horrid. They like to hibernate in attics, soffits or any crack where they can steal a little heat from a house. These bugs will decimate a vegetable garden, especially tomatoes. I'm optimistic that this cold air will kill a lot of them.
I've found a way to keep them out of my garden and house, but I'd love to see their overall numbers decrease.

So, what is this that you have found?
 
On the ash borer, I've wondered if all those milder winters may have had an effect but this is the first I've heard of it. Sadly, it is way too late for all our ash. We're still cutting though.
 
My wood shed was chock full of stink bugs (western conifer seed variety) to the point that i found somewhere else to stack wood until they died off a bit (a month or two).
 
So, what is this that you have found?
It's a product called Talstar. Doesn't harm animals or humans, once it's dry. It's residual properties are amazing, it will kill bugs for months, once it is applied.
Have to be very careful where it's applied, so that it doesn't kill beneficial bugs.
Google-stink bugs talstar.
There's not much anything else that will kill them.
A month after the stink bugs were here, the ladybugs tried to get in, there were hundreds of them on the window ledges. Don't like to kill ladybugs, since their beneficial, but I don't want them crawling all over the house through the winter either.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Backwoods Savage
It's a product called Talstar. Doesn't harm animals or humans, once it's dry. It's residual properties are amazing, it will kill bugs for months, once it is applied.
Have to be very careful where it's applied, so that it doesn't kill beneficial bugs.
Google-stink bugs talstar.
There's not much anything else that will kill them.
A month after the stink bugs were here, the ladybugs tried to get in, there were hundreds of them on the window ledges. Don't like to kill ladybugs, since their beneficial, but I don't want them crawling all over the house through the winter either.

bsruther,
Don't know if they are truly lady bugs or not. Lady bugs are red, really red. I have them here too in the Midwest. Not by the hundreds but by the hundreds of thousands. Everywhere, at the base of trees, under anything, rocks, wood, leaves etc. Story I heard is that the agricultural experts (my ass) imported them from China to control aphids in the bean fields and then they went out of control.. Why is it most anything bad America gets comes from China....haha The bugs (and most people call them Lady bugs) we get also bite like hell!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Backwoods Savage
The problem is all of them won't die. The ones that are left will pass on their cold tolerant genetics.

The wooly adelgid that is ravaging our hemlocks comes from a moderate area of Japan (although the WA has a much larger area) and only something like 2 in 100 winters in the Adk mountains are warm enough for them to survive. I'm thinking the insect will adapt.
 
The problem is all of them won't die. The ones that are left will pass on their cold tolerant genetics.....
.... I'm thinking the insect will adapt.

This is the first thing I thought too. "Survival of the Fittest", "Adaptation" and all that.

Just like bacteria. When a person takes antibiotics and a few bacteria are NOT killed off, those very bacteria are the ones that grow resistant and become even worse/stronger.

Maybe the surviving borers will do the same in regards to the frigid temps???

Maybe not too.;lol
 
Heard about this on the radio this morning... Apparently the cold can significantly slow the spread of the emerald ash borer.

"His research found that 5 percent of larvae will die at 0 degrees, 34 percent at 10 below, 79 percent at 20 below and 98 percent at minus 30."

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_24842238/silving-lining-cold-it-kills-emerald-ash-borers

Its amazing to me that any animal can survive 30 degrees below zero. I can see a large moose or bison but I wonder how, for example, the birds survive that.
 
Generally they migrate. Very few birds winter over up here. Fewer can winter over further North. They have extremely fast metabolisms and most are too small to store any reasonable amount of fat. Geese are different in the fact that they will return to the arctic and lay their eggs before any food is available. The male is free to go looking for food, but the female must sit on the nest for a month straight. She looses a LOT of weight. But when the little ones hatch, the food is available and they have the whole growing season to get big and strong. Then they fly South for the winter and start the whole process over again. The 4 major flyways that waterfowl take are well documented.

Waterfowlflywaysmap.png



If you want to learn about an amazing migration, check out the paths that warblers take. Here's a map of the black poll warbler, but the others are similar. The researchers don't really know how such a small bird survives it... but they do.

http://www.borealbirds.org/birdguide/mig_map_blackpoll_warbler.shtml
 
Our Bluebird populations have increased dramatically over the past few years. I have a feeling we won't see too many of them in the spring. Harsh winters are hard on some birds and the Bluebird is one of them. Nothing seems to hurt those damn Starlings though.

The other day when it was frigid cold, I saw a Dove outside the basement window in the flower bed. It had burrowed out a bowl in the mulch and was using the house as a wind break.
 
It's a product called Talstar. Doesn't harm animals or humans, once it's dry. It's residual properties are amazing, it will kill bugs for months, once it is applied.
Have to be very careful where it's applied, so that it doesn't kill beneficial bugs.
Google-stink bugs talstar.
There's not much anything else that will kill them.
A month after the stink bugs were here, the ladybugs tried to get in, there were hundreds of them on the window ledges. Don't like to kill ladybugs, since their beneficial, but I don't want them crawling all over the house through the winter either.

Like eater stated, I doubt those are lady bugs but instead the asian bugs that got in here about 20 some odd years ago. They can be terrible for sure. Sorry, I thought I had a picture but can't find it right now. These things can bite and also will emit a yellow substance that stinks. Best thing we've found to keep them away from the house is lemon scent. We've also went outside at night after a bad day of them and sucked up a bunch with the shop vac. They tend to drop down to the ground and get just into the dirt if possible.
 
Whether they're asian lady bugs or domestic lady bugs, they were lady bugs and they came after the brown marmorated stink bugs. I killed them all. We have a no bugs in the house policy...mice either, they get the wheel of death, before they even get close to the house.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.