Here comes the EAB

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Woodsman_WI said:
wendell said:
heatit said:
The male is much smaller without any kind of long tail. It most likely is. Frisky little fellows; they didn't care about anything other then getting to the females that were hatching out. In the course of splitting a larger round I found them in the adult stage in the middle of the round! How the heck they chew or move out of there is nothing short of incredible.

Geez, now I feel bad. I thought I was doing a good thing exposing those larvae to a cold Wisconsin winter to kill them but now find out they actually are doing good.

Wendell and Todd - have you heard anything about EAB in the Wausau area? I am wondering if I should start putting feelers out for free wood...might as well take advantage.

Not yet. I have heard it's in the Green Bay area, a few southern and western counties and also in the Minneapolis area. It won't be long and it will be everywhere.
 
I'm in Northwest Ohio and the EAB has destroyed nearly every Ash. We mostly have White Ash (in the woods and growing wild) and Green Ash (planted as street trees-not as hard as White) and Marshal Ash (mostly used in landscaping-the perfect looking tree). It is heartbreaking to see so many 10's of thousands of trees die so fast. We have entire streets that are nothing but Ash and every tree is completely dead and the cities can't keep up with the funding to cut them all down. Right now I'm taking down 40 - 50 dead ones within eye sight of my house. The ones I'm taking down are all White Ash. They're good for a few years but will dry out too much after that.

Recently I was up to the Straights and heard of a new method being used to kill these things. Aparently someone discovered that they are attracted to the color purple. Someone will bait the tree with something purple and lace it with poison that kills them off. Sounds to simple to me but I'll take anything that will wipe these buggers out. First we had Chestnut Blight, then Dutch Elm Disease and now EAB and down south the Hemlock is being decimated. Hope the Oak never runs into something like this.

Good Luck in MN, trying to cut ahead of them is just an effort in futility,
Andy
 
So that's why I keep seeing all these puple buckets hanging on trees and in neighborhoods. I heard they had some way of trapping the EAB, but I guess I didn't put two and two together. I kept asking my wife why people have these things out, they're uglier then sin. Duh. I guess when all else fails come to the Hearth for all the answers.
 
andybaker said:
Recently I was up to the Straights and heard of a new method being used to kill these things. Aparently someone discovered that they are attracted to the color purple. Someone will bait the tree with something purple and lace it with poison that kills them off. Sounds to simple to me but I'll take anything that will wipe these buggers out. First we had Chestnut Blight, then Dutch Elm Disease and now EAB and down south the Hemlock is being decimated. Hope the Oak never runs into something like this.
This year around here I have seen where someone has hung big purple things in the trees and have not heard what they are for. They look something like a big Gypsy Moth trap. Maybe these big purple things are EAB traps? Actually, I think I took a picture of one. If I can find it, I'll post it.

Speaking of oaks not getting something like this, too late. Oak has had oak wilt for many years and it kills A LOT of red/black oak around here. Acres and acres of it. I have some big oaks in my yard that I expect to die one of these days, since the oak wilt has been on all sides but yet not right in my yard. It's getting closer though.
 
i3bpvh said:
So that's why I keep seeing all these puple buckets hanging on trees and in neighborhoods. I heard they had some way of trapping the EAB, but I guess I didn't put two and two together. I kept asking my wife why people have these things out, they're uglier then sin. Duh. I guess when all else fails come to the Hearth for all the answers.
Hey i3bpvh, you and I came to that conclusion at the same time!

Here's the picture I took of one of those big purple things. This was on the 4th of July.
IMG_2236.jpg
 
You start to see how deeply this scrounging disease has you when you take out your family for son's birthday and take the long way home to see if they've started taking down the ash trees, find out that they have, drop your family off at home, get changed and go pick up the first load in the dark. :lol:

IMG_2596.jpg
 
quads said:
i3bpvh said:
So that's why I keep seeing all these puple buckets hanging on trees and in neighborhoods. I heard they had some way of trapping the EAB, but I guess I didn't put two and two together. I kept asking my wife why people have these things out, they're uglier then sin. Duh. I guess when all else fails come to the Hearth for all the answers.
Hey i3bpvh, you and I came to that conclusion at the same time!

Here's the picture I took of one of those big purple things. This was on the 4th of July.
IMG_2236.jpg

yup, that's it. At first I thought it was a new way of showing one's "pride". Or just really weird vikings fans
 
They have these things here as well - my understanding is that they use it simply to identify whether or not the EAB is present in that particular area. THe EAB first made its appearance here last year. Not much damage yet but it sounds like there is no avoiding it...
 
One thing you guys can keep in mind is that once the borer gets into the trees, it does still take a few years for the trees to die. They will look awful with the bark flaking off and only partial leaves, but at least you don't have to hurry up to cut them down.

There is one ash tree right by the road not far from us that started to look pretty bad....4 years ago. This year, finally, it has very few leaves on it. Probably this will be its last year. I'm wondering how many years before it falls. But being right next to the road I'll probably go over there and offer to take it down for them. It's not too big so will be quick work. I really don't need the wood but always hate seeing dead trees by the road.
 
We really don't have many ash trees where I am. A few here and there. Because of that, the EAB will never be as big a problem here as oak wilt is. We have so few ash that I have actually never burned one. I have a few splits from a smallish ash tree (Green Ash, I think) seasoning somewhere in one of my piles, and that will someday be the first ash tree I have ever burned. Unless a camper buys it for his campfire first.
 
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