Emerald Ash Borer in VA, Quarantine Announced

Well, the bugs were coming anyway. You can't stop them, or at least no way has been found so far. Michigan also tried the quarantine and you couldn't even cross a county line. It did not help in the least. All the ash are dying...but at least they make good firewood and lumber.

I just so pleased the bug isn't around CNY yet...love my ash trees, they grow fast and are very easy to harvest cause there's not much limbs to them.

I seen traps in SE Kansas trying to see if we have the borer or not hope not!

I'm in Ohio for the next two weeks and saw a sign that reads, "Don't move firewood," and another was on a county line stating not to cross this line with firewood or face $1000 or $10000 fine. Ouch!!

Backwoods Savage said:

Well, the bugs were coming anyway. You can't stop them, or at least no way has been found so far. Michigan also tried the quarantine and you couldn't even cross a county line. It did not help in the least. All the ash are dying...but at least they make good firewood and lumber.

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The quarantine does not work for sure. I know in my area it's "odd" to see a live ash tree. You can look at any stand of woods for the bare sticks sticking up and it's either ash or elm. I'm sure some rocket scientist will develope a bug in the lab that will take care of the ash borer...with some unintended consequences.

A guy told me this Ash Borer reminds him of the Elm disease out break.
They ran around when that happened trying to stop the disease because
it was going to kill all the Elm trees. Then he said we stopped hearing about
it. The disease passed and there are still Elm trees.

Haven't heard of it in Wisconsin yet, but I know people are saying it will be here before too long and there is a ban for transporting firewood across state lines.

I've picked up wood from Fairfax county in the past taking the long way home from work. Nowadays I find plenty in my own county (Montgomery, MD), which is good since the other nearby county (Prince George's, MD) is also under an EAB quarantine ever since some genius at a nursery imported ash saplings from MI.

Meanwhile, up in the UP we're still hoping that the quarantine will at least keep it from crossing the bridge from downstate. I've never actually seen much ash up here, and I haven't found any on my property, but I know it's out there.

I have not read that they have yet identified any EAB-resistant ash species here. In Asia, where EAB comes from, the ash are evidently resistant.

no man said:

A guy told me this Ash Borer reminds him of the Elm disease out break.
They ran around when that happened trying to stop the disease because
it was going to kill all the Elm trees. Then he said we stopped hearing about
it. The disease passed and there are still Elm trees.

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Well the elm beetle is still out there and no elm tree will last 20-25 years because of the beetle. The reason they made a big deal out of that tree was because many city streets were lined with it...and the elms once diseased died starting from the top. The dead branches were a menace to pedestrians...and that been going on since the late 60's.

Just so ya know the threat to elm is still with us once these bugs get a threshold its just a matter of time.

savageactor7 said:

no man said:

A guy told me this Ash Borer reminds him of the Elm disease out break.
They ran around when that happened trying to stop the disease because
it was going to kill all the Elm trees. Then he said we stopped hearing about
it. The disease passed and there are still Elm trees.

Click to expand...

Well the elm beetle is still out there and no elm tree will last 20-25 years because of the beetle. The reason they made a big deal out of that tree was because many city streets were lined with it...and the elms once diseased died starting from the top. The dead branches were a menace to pedestrians...and that been going on since the late 60's.

Just so ya know the threat to elm is still with us once these bugs get a threshold its just a matter of time.

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savageactor7, I agree with you...except the year. It has been going on since the 50's And that also is the reason we burn a certain amount of elm every year.

DiscoInferno said:

I've picked up wood from Fairfax county in the past taking the long way home from work. Nowadays I find plenty in my own county (Montgomery, MD), which is good since the other nearby county (Prince George's, MD) is also under an EAB quarantine ever since some genius at a nursery imported ash saplings from MI.

Meanwhile, up in the UP we're still hoping that the quarantine will at least keep it from crossing the bridge from downstate. I've never actually seen much ash up here, and I haven't found any on my property, but I know it's out there.

I have not read that they have yet identified any EAB-resistant ash species here. In Asia, where EAB comes from, the ash are evidently resistant.

Click to expand...

So far I have not heard of any major outbreaks in the UP. You may not have any ash on your UP property, but not very far from you there is a lot of it. I'm thinking of our deer hunting spot south of Shingleton.

I hate hearing news like this. My place is mostly ash. The whole area is. There's also some soft maple and a handful of oaks, but that's about it. When I was a kid the elms all went, and now with this, well, it won't be fun when it hits Northern NYS. I've just noticed off the tractor this summer that a new crop of young elm trees has died off. They are from 4-8" diameter at the base, up to 20'-30' tall.

Poult

Poult, that is ideal size for elm. Sounds like your place is about like ours.

The quarantine and the moneys being spent on the efforts are kind of pointless. The only way to stop this bug is to kill every last one of them. Doubt we can do that.

I think the theory is that if you can slow the spread enough, it will burn itself out as it runs out of ash trees. Sort of like containing a forest fire. I agree this doesn't seem to be working; the adults can fly, after all. To the extent that it does slow it down, though, it also buys time to find an effective countermeasure. The fact that there is not more than an isolated EAB presence in the UP (and WI, etc.) shows that it can work in some cases, at least. There used to be so much firewood coming up from downstate MI that without the quarantine EAB would be everywhere by now.

I'm still not going to plant any ash trees, mind you. As it is I have to worry about my beech (bark disease) and hemlock (woolly adelgid).

Backwoods Savage said:

Poult, that is ideal size for elm. Sounds like your place is about like ours.

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Yep, I'm going to be getting those elms when I have time. You probably aren't that far from me, I'm near Watertown on the lakeshore.

Poult

savageactor7 said:

I just so pleased the bug isn't around CNY yet...love my ash trees, they grow fast and are very easy to harvest cause there's not much limbs to them.

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I am surprised that it has not hit Central NY yet. NY just initiated the Quarantine but downstate NY was already inundated with the bugs...and CT is riddled with them too yet no big mention of transport.

This bug has already been set in motion and nothing we try and do will stop it.

^It might be here...I dunno. So far my only dead trees are Elm...which is pretty much status quo on my wood lot. When I see standing dead ash...then I'll know it's here.

I hear ya - I do not know it is there, I just figured...

Funny b/c on the range map on the EAB website, it does not list CT as affected, yet I have seen the buggers crawling out of the wood and the ash trees are dropping like, well, dead trees.

DiscoInferno said:

I think the theory is that if you can slow the spread enough, it will burn itself out as it runs out of ash trees. Sort of like containing a forest fire. I agree this doesn't seem to be working; the adults can fly, after all. To the extent that it does slow it down, though, it also buys time to find an effective countermeasure. The fact that there is not more than an isolated EAB presence in the UP (and WI, etc.) shows that it can work in some cases, at least. There used to be so much firewood coming up from downstate MI that without the quarantine EAB would be everywhere by now.

I'm still not going to plant any ash trees, mind you. As it is I have to worry about my beech (bark disease) and hemlock (woolly adelgid).

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The original quarantine area in PG Co. was (I believe) 13,000 acres. That was based on how far they (MD Dept of Ag) thought the bugs would travel by air. Turns out the bugs fly a lot farther...the quarantine area is now around 23,000 acres. The State has cut every Ash in that circle both on public and private land. The felled trees are then chipped twice...that's right...twice. I guess MDA feels that one of the borers may live the first time through the chipper! The second time through (the chipper) the chips are all smaller than 1/2 inch, so even the baddest of borers is turned to mush.
Oh... and the infected trees came from Ed's Plant World in PG Co. Eddie got the trees from Michigan.

I did recently plant a Green ash sapling on the property that I rescued from the brushy area along my driveway. I figure I can protect one tree from these suckers!!

Backwoods Savage said:

DiscoInferno said:

I've picked up wood from Fairfax county in the past taking the long way home from work. Nowadays I find plenty in my own county (Montgomery, MD), which is good since the other nearby county (Prince George's, MD) is also under an EAB quarantine ever since some genius at a nursery imported ash saplings from MI.

Meanwhile, up in the UP we're still hoping that the quarantine will at least keep it from crossing the bridge from downstate. I've never actually seen much ash up here, and I haven't found any on my property, but I know it's out there.

I have not read that they have yet identified any EAB-resistant ash species here. In Asia, where EAB comes from, the ash are evidently resistant.

Click to expand...

So far I have not heard of any major outbreaks in the UP. You may not have any ash on your UP property, but not very far from you there is a lot of it. I'm thinking of our deer hunting spot south of Shingleton.

Click to expand...

I was told that there is a wood pile the size of Boyne Mountain in the lower Peninsula at the Mackinaw Bridge. People trying to take wood to there U.P. retreat are being stopped and fined by the DNR!