R2D
North pole greens keeper
It was out of Michigan state university. Still it says exactly what you and I have said, no proof of larvae survival on any other tree.
Southern Ontario/ metro Toronto area has destroyed over 100,000 Ash trees that were infected with E.A.B.Well, we are the 10th state (province) to find the EAB. Just for reference, they found it one county north of Milwaukee. I hope the pesticides help...
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=779618
Treating yourself? Try the local Extension office.Where do I go to get information treating my ash here in NY? imidacloprid isn't available here. Thanks
Good info. I'm at the Tip of the Mit and our woodlot mirrors your findings. I cut the last of our mature White Ash into firewood last weekend, but if you look around there's a fair amount of new ash growth mixed into the floor with the other hardwoods and there's a few healthy saplings taking off here and there. I won't be here to see them reach any significant size, but I'm confident that they'll be back for future generations to harvest.I can pass along some things I have learned and observed recently.
I live in NW lower MI, about 200 miles from where EAB likely first began to spread, 20 years ago. The active “front” reached us quickly and was particularly devastating on the Green & Black Ash in riparian corridors where they made a high % of the stand composition. White Ash mortality was more slow to develop as they are generally around in much lower #s on upland sites, farther apart. But eventually most of those succumbed too.
My area was also one of the very first to have the Asian predator wasps released; probably because it was the first National Forest affected by EAB. This was 15 years ago already.
Finally last year I was able to get some answers on how that turned out. The Asian wasps are effective - but they have only managed to reproduce on about 40% of release sites. Iirc, there are 3 species of these wasps. Also, raising them for release has some challenges but is not impossible. Bottom line: they do work.
Even better news is that North American varieties of such wasps have begun adapting to the presence of EAB and begun feeding on them too. As of course other predators such as birds have as well. It is worth recalling that there are Ash species in Asia and EAB can’t operate in a way that extirpates it’s host species after all.
These days, what I see while out on the land is encouraging. There is generally a strong presence of Ash in the seedling layer on Ash sites. There has always been a minimum required diameter of around 3” to a stem below which the borer can’t attack the stem as the grubs are just too big to fit between the bark and cambium on still small stems. And occasionally a small Ash can still produce a seed crop before it has EAB infestation.
But what I am seeing now is more and more pole diameter trees, first at 4-6”, then at 6-8”, including on some riparian sites where I fish. This spring I worked on a northern hardwoods site with a lot of White Ash mortality over the previous decade, but also a whole lot of young Ash coming up now. Some of these were in the 8-10” class and were 100% healthy, many with yet another seed crop on the way.
So overall I am optimistic about the future of Ash, and I think it will recover better than some of our other species being attacked by much smaller exotic insects or fungal/viral pathogens.
I see carpets of ash seedlings. I am not as confident as you that those will make it. But the info that @newforest posted about the parasitic wasps is encouraging...so I hope you are right!Good info. I'm at the Tip of the Mit and our woodlot mirrors your findings. I cut the last of our mature White Ash into firewood last weekend, but if you look around there's a fair amount of new ash growth mixed into the floor with the other hardwoods and there's a few healthy saplings taking off here and there. I won't be here to see them reach any significant size, but I'm confident that they'll be back for future generations to harvest.
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