Emerald Ash Borer – What’s Your Plan?

If you have green, white, blue, or European ash trees growing on your property and you want to keep them from succumbing to Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), the window of time to protect them is now. Untreated trees will die! If you are waiting for EAB to officially be confirmed in your municipality before you make a management decision, the insect is already way ahead of you. With each new EAB find, research has consistently shown that EAB has already been in the area for 3 to 5 years. We must consider southeastern Wisconsin infested. I firmly believe that all properties in this region are within a 15-mile radius of a known infestation. If you want to save certain ash trees on your property and you have not yet begun an emerald ash borer treatment trunk injections program, now is the time. Don’t wait until next year!

Ash Tree Injections & Mortality in Wisconsin

There has been an exponential rise in ash tree death. If you want to check it out for yourself, tour your surrounding communities. I have personally seen the full impact of EAB devastation in both urban and rural areas of Dayton, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Indiana. Over 90% of untreated ashes are now dead! Significant changes in the tree canopy have occurred. Many of those residents were unprepared for what happened. Still in Wisconsin, too many people are largely unaware of the ramifications of EAB.

With EAB pressure on the increase in our region, we use a trunk ash tree injection with Emamectin Benzoate. This trunk ash tree injection is showing a higher effectiveness rate than the soil injection treatments using Imidacloprid for providing satisfactory EAB control that was used in previous years. The Emamectin Benzoate treatment continues to show 99% effectiveness for two years, even in high EAB pressure areas.

The biggest key to making your plan work for you is to have a professional out on your property right away to assess the damage of the emerald ash borer and provide treatment trunk injections. Call your Wachtel Tree Science certified arborist today and schedule an appointment.