Emerald Ash Borer Beetles in Minnesota... What Can You Do?
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture thinks that the beetle is not a newcomer, and could have been present in Minnesota for as long as four years.
The MDA is currently surveying trees in the Twin Cities and in Minnesota to try to determine the scale of the infestation. Depending on the number of trees infested, it may be possible to eradicate the Emerald Ash Borer Beetle by removing the diseased trees. If the beetle is more widely spread, the MDA will attempt to try to contain and reduce the damage the beetle causes.
So what can you do? If you have ash trees on your property, inspect them for signs of Emerald Ash Borer beetle infestations. The beetles are difficult to see and symptoms of Emerald Ash Borer infestation are similar to other diseases and conditions of Ash trees, but the University of Minnesota's Forest Resources Extension has an online guide to identifying if a tree does have Emerald Ash Borer beetles. If you do suspect that your tree is infested, contact the Forest Resources Extension at 612-624-3020.
Emerald Ash Borer Beetles naturally spread slowly between trees. But the beetle has spread rapidly across the Midwest with firewood, logs and infected ash saplings transported across the region. To help contain the spread of the beetle, campers and vacationers are asked not to transport firewood or logs, or bring their own from home, but obtain firewood at the campsite or cabin.
The title of this article does not get answered in the article. What do you do with your ash trees? Well the answer is more complicated then one may assume. I have published an article with a similar title. In my article I write about the methods of how to save these trees. Often the most overlooked step that one needs to take is identifying what an ash tree look like. http://WWW.ARBORDOCTOR.NET can help you with that. It is my site and has been set up to help people distinguish what tree they have and what to look for in that particular tree.
So once you know you have an ash tree you must weight the factors of value to you and your household. Some trees have sentamental value while others offer good shading to help reduce electric bills. Some people just like to have nice big trees. The factors are endless but the end question you must ask yourself is Do I want to keep this tree? If the answer is yes here are methods you can consider to save an ash tree..
Trunk injections are my method of choice when I have weighed all of the pro and cons of chemical warefare against this invasive pest. This method directly gives the chemical to your tree that kills off this insect. The method is very safe for the environment as no chemical reaches the water system. The chemical stays in the tree for a whole year keeping costs down for saving trees.
Other methods include base soak usually by a company called bayer advanced, root injections and spraying. All are dangerous for the water system. Do know that in order for chemical treatment to be very effective treatments should be done prior to infestationa nd should be ran for atleast three years consecutively.
Will the city provide any aid for hopmenowners that want to protect their trees or is this all out of pocket?