interesting tree pics...DNR explains

[Rayne]

Don't I wish. Any insecticide must be able to penetrate the bark and still be effective. Nothing fits the bill at present, leaving only systemic treatment (expensive and must be applied repeatedly). And there is concern about killing non-target species.

All you woodpecker doubters, look here:
Woodpeckers on emerald ash borer ash trees > IPM - Crop Advisory Team Alerts - Landscape > MSU Landscape Alert newsletter
You all owe me rep.
Never underestimate the power of woodpeckers - just ask someone with unpainted wood siding on their house.

Very intersting link, thanks for sharing, but I will reserve my rep until I hear from the expert, aka State Entomologist. I will admit I have never seen woodpecker damage like that.

 

[2500ekW]

I've got two mature ash's in my yard, I check them every day!

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

I'm not sure what the insecticide he used, but my father-in-law treated one of his remaining ash trees with it.

He had to drill holes, about an inch deep into the bark...and then pound in these little chemical sticks. They looked similar to a golf tee but without the head.

They were inserted roughly every 4" apart, and 4" above the previous one. Kind of like an upward spiral on the exterior of the tree.

We'll see if that works or not...

 

[coon hunter]

This has been a terrible year for it. we (arcola fire dept) put on a tractor pull every year. unfortunatly this year we lost 46 of the ash trees at the park where we put on the tractor pulls. now all we have left is a couple oaks and those cottonwood trees. go figure its ash bore. why cant there ever be a cotton wood bore.

 

[Rayne]

Here is the response I received from the State Entemologist, Kyotekilr can you PM me the exact address so I can forward this on, like he asked.


The pictures are of EAB. One is a good picture of the D shaped exit hole and the other is where the wood pecker worked on the exit hole. The bark around the exit hole may have been removed by someone scraping with a draw knife. The one picture of the woodpecker attack on the exit hole looks more like a draw knife has removed the bark or maybe pocket knife.

That person received the work information from the DNR person he spoke to. It may have been a secretary who is not fully trained or aware of what we do for EAB. DNR employees do not climb trees to peel the bark to kill larvae. We only reach as high as possible from the ground to probe the bark or peel under the bark to find larvae which are used to verify it is EAB. We may and have cut small trees down to get into the top of the tree to peel/remove bark to see if EAB larvae are present. We only do this for the first detection in a county or township. After that, any additional infested trees are reported by DNR inspectors trained and experienced in EAB identification based on woodpecker attack and observation of D shape holes. If we see D shaped exit holes at eye level, then there is EAB larval tunnels under the bark which we remove to see. And on that tree there will be woodpecker attacks that remove the bark ridges to expose the lighter (tan) color inner bark. When we see this high in the tree, we know it is EAB infested with wood pecker attack searching for EAB larvae.

I need to know the location on the west side of Indy as we have no officially confirmed location of EAB on west side of Indy.

It really is good that this thread was started and the information about EAB is getting out there. There is no way to stop the EAB on a large scale. If you have a large yard tree that you want to save you can treat to stop an EAB infestation, but it is very expensive. $70 to $100 a year depending on the size of the tree. We are currently treating one tree in our church yard. You have to prevent the infestation, not treat it after it has started. It's usually too late then.