Emerald Ash Borer

Map Showing Where Emerald Ash Borer Has Been Identified

                       Adult Emerald Ash Borer                         Emerald Ash Borer Tree Trunk Damage

Emerald Ash Borer was found for the first time in Wisconsin in August, 2008 near the community of Newburg, along the northern Ozaukee and Washington County line.

In April, 2009, EAB was found in western Wisconsin, in the small town of Victory in Vernon County, alonside the Mississippi River.

In July, adult beetles were caught on survey traps located in Crawford and Brown counties.

In August, the Milwaukee County community of Franklin became the site of the latest confirmed presence of EAB when city officials alerted program staff to declining ash trees.

The damage of this insect rivals that of Chestnut blight and Dutch Elm Disease. To put its damage in perspective:

• Chestnut Blight killed around 3.5 billion chestnut trees nation wide. (There are 3.5 billion ash trees in Ohio alone.)
• Dutch Elm Disease killed only a mere 200 million elm trees nation wide.
• Emerald Ash Borer threatens 7.5 billion ash trees in the United States.
• It has killed at least 50 million ash trees so far.

The beetle kills trees because the feeding larvae damage both the phloem (responsible for nutrient transport throughout the tree) and xylem (responsible for take-up of water and nutrients) tissues of the tree. The beetle effectively girdles the tree and starves it.

Losses are estimated in the tens of millions of dollars. There is a high probability that all American ash trees will be destroyed in our lifetime.

A pilot study is being undertaken in Michigan to determine if three different parasitic wasps can deter the emerald ash borer. These tiny stingless wasps can sense beetles underneath the bark and then lay their eggs in the larvae or egg, thus killing them. There have been doubts as to whether this biological control program will work due to the rapid progression of the beetle and death of the ash trees.

There are effective injection and root soaking treatments now!

Imidicloprid is the most widely used insecticide in the world. Some of the advantages of this insecticide are:

• Application rates are very low. Small amounts are very effective.
• It has a long residual control of 6-8 months. This is very important with our ash trees as one application is all that is needed per year.
• This systemic insecticide is easily translocated to other parts of a plant other than where it was originally applied.
• It has less impact on non-target organisms than other insecticides. This is important in soil injections where we hope we are not affecting the earth worms and other "beneficial" organisms.

Are Your Trees Protected?

Contact us for treatment options here.