EAB (emerald ash borer)

I've had my first encounter in the field with the d shaped exit holes associated with eab. They are obvious. Two nearly dead trees side by side showed d shaped exit holes on the trunk of one tree, but no d shaped exit holes on another. Currently, it is my opinion a climber should see random woodpecker strikes on the scaffold branches of ash trees, usually more heavy on some branches of the trees than others, as suspect for an eab infestation. Check to see if the strikes tend to be heavier near wounds.

I observed that the trunk of 1 tree I had a confirmed positive I.D. of eab infestation didn't have d shaped exit holes on the trunk, nor within sight from the ground. It is starting to lose leaves on 1 lower branch on 1 side of the tree. The leaf loss is a general thinning, not from the tips back, nor the interior outward. That side of the tree is starting to lose leaves.

Joe
 
I'm in Central Ohio. The nearly dead trees as spoken of in my previous post are a municipality's responsibility. The other trees belong to clients.

Joe
 
I've found 2 eab infested trees. In the most obvious tree, I found 2 vertical splits with serpentine galleries at the top of the tree along a scaffold branch. The branch was 4-5 inches in diameter in a tree about 40 feet tall. There was callus(spelling from A New Tree Biology Dictionary) tissue forming to close the galleries formed by the eab. The split was the length of a middle finger and the tree showed no signs of decline. The 2nd had 2-3 vertical splits which were closed. There were no woodpecker strikes, d-shaped exit holes, or suckers in either tree. There was another tree on the property which is declining but shows no visible signs of an eab infestation. I'm speculating the reason the eab may have infested so many trees without detection is because the damage is not significant enough at the time of detection to alert the "treeworker" the damage may not be worth reporting to any1 else.


Joe
 
I detected an eab infested ash tree today for the neighbor of a client. The gentleman wanted to have some unsightly lower limbs on an ash tree removed. The trunk dbh was roughly 3 feet and an open grown tree. The upper limbs and top showed no signs of decline. I noticed holes, about the size of my pinky fingernail, maybe smaller, scattered underneath of one of the declining limbs in the tree. To confirm an eab infestation, I obtained permission from the neighbor to set a ladder on the tree and use a sharp chisel and hammer to trace and remove the bark around one of the holes. The wound I made was roughly 2 inches wide and about 3 to 4 inches long. I ended up doing this in 2 to 3 spots to obtain a sample of bark which showed the classic serpentine galleries made by this borer. I found to use this method to confirm an eab infestation this time of year becomes harder since some of the old galleries seem to have faded with undefined margins. The galleries were still packed with frass. Anyway, we got hired to remove the unsightly limbs on the tree. I believe the neighbor (now a client) understands the fate of this tree is in his hands.

As an update, The 1st tree I detected as having eab is showing signs of decline in the lower and upper canopy on 1 side. The treated tree I haven't seen. The city trees are removed.

For those who want to learn about eab infestations should access the webinars through the eab website. There is an unbeleivable amount of information being presented.

Joe
 
Been seeing scenes like this all over Louisville lately. I took this photo today near the Ford Super Duty assembly plant. Ash trees all over the city are looking like this. Depressing.

photo.jpg
 
Unfortunatly this is migrating further and further south! I migrated from cincinnati to Nashville a few years back. It was a full scale invasion in cincy when I left I am seeing the beginnings of that here and also in Louisville. The post to watch for sign of wood peckers is verry intuitive, and a tell tale that I used in the cincy invasion. It does work! Chemicals for treatment work also but you have to gage the committment level of your client. If they are up in age and wont see another tree grow in its place treat it. If they are young and chances are they wont retire in that home remove it and start over with another more desirable shade tree! Keep up the fight and put the clients best interest to work!
 
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