ash beetles on the decline?

[old 040]

for the last few years every ash i dropped and brought back, i would have ash beetles all over them almost instantly, dropped a nice one last weekend, haven't seen one. i'm in north east ohio, anyone else have the same scenario?, just wanted to get any feedback about it that i can, thanks

 

[Fish]

Maybe the beetles cannot keep up with you?

 

[old 040]

Maybe the beetles cannot keep up with you?

they don't have far to gootstir:

 

[Fish]

No, several years ago i drove my mother up in Ohio, I noticed a disturbing number of dead trees along the highway. They all seemed to be the
same as far as shape/profile.

 

[bob15]

No, they just moved East into New England.....

Destructive beetle found in Naugatuck, Prospect - WFSB Channel 3


bob

 

[2lungs]

Here in SW Mi. 2010/2011 the beetles killed all ash in my woods about 2 Dz.trees. I dropped 7 trees this spring seen no beetles? They probably moved on to greener pastures?

 

[Motorsen]

Not to be too controversial

Not to be too controversial i'll like to toss in a new aspect to this Ash tree death. I have been told by an old time forester that it is not the beetle killing the trees. But it is a fungi infecting some of the trees. Importantly not all of them. At least here in Europe they try to save the still healthy trees and use them for future seed suplyers. The beetle is a sign that the tree is ill as the healthy trees don't get infected with beetles. I remember that from my early years in my dads woodpile. In the hot summers I could hear the beetles chewing and see the dust from theit poo. The beetle have been there longbefore the Ash tree death was invented. Now they just seem to have an endless foodsuply.
And this maybe have to be moved to another forum. And so ....!

Motorsen

 

[bryanr2]

Not to be too controversial i'll like to toss in a new aspect to this Ash tree death. I have been told by an old time forester that it is not the beetle killing the trees. But it is a fungi infecting some of the trees. Importantly not all of them. At least here in Europe they try to save the still healthy trees and use them for future seed suplyers. The beetle is a sign that the tree is ill as the healthy trees don't get infected with beetles. I remember that from my early years in my dads woodpile. In the hot summers I could hear the beetles chewing and see the dust from theit poo. The beetle have been there longbefore the Ash tree death was invented. Now they just seem to have an endless foodsuply.
And this maybe have to be moved to another forum. And so ....!

Motorsen

Not if Old040 tells us what kind of saw he used to drop the tree.:msp_wink:

 

[old 040]

Not if Old040 tells us what kind of saw he used to drop the tree.:msp_wink:

slightly tweaked husky 350

 

[bryanr2]

Well this is some interesting info. Guess them beetles will get in just about any kind of wood. I was splitting some huge oak logs that I have had sitting for two or three years and I guess a third of it was dusty, powder, expecially along the outside part of the logs. Still good in the middle. Cant complain- I still got about 10 ricks out of that pile. I had cut that tree with a Stihl 044 10mm with 24'' bar. Wished it had already been ported, but it handled itself respectfully in the cut- no shame. It was before I learned of this site and all production came to a halt. Damn this site!

 

[Chris-PA]

Not to be too controversial i'll like to toss in a new aspect to this Ash tree death. I have been told by an old time forester that it is not the beetle killing the trees. But it is a fungi infecting some of the trees. Importantly not all of them. At least here in Europe they try to save the still healthy trees and use them for future seed suplyers. The beetle is a sign that the tree is ill as the healthy trees don't get infected with beetles. I remember that from my early years in my dads woodpile. In the hot summers I could hear the beetles chewing and see the dust from theit poo. The beetle have been there longbefore the Ash tree death was invented. Now they just seem to have an endless foodsuply.
And this maybe have to be moved to another forum. And so ....!

Motorsen

Our ash trees are all in very bad shape here from a fungal infection called ash yellows. The Emerald Ash Borer is not (quite) here yet, but many of the ashes have already died and many more are hurting. Won't take much to kill them off.

 

[sachsmo]

Not to be too controversial i'll like to toss in a new aspect to this Ash tree death. I have been told by an old time forester that it is not the beetle killing the trees. But it is a fungi infecting some of the trees. Importantly not all of them. At least here in Europe they try to save the still healthy trees and use them for future seed suplyers. The beetle is a sign that the tree is ill as the healthy trees don't get infected with beetles. I remember that from my early years in my dads woodpile. In the hot summers I could hear the beetles chewing and see the dust from theit poo. The beetle have been there longbefore the Ash tree death was invented. Now they just seem to have an endless foodsuply.
And this maybe have to be moved to another forum. And so ....!

Motorsen

If them EAB devils moved on, you can bet the trees are on their way dead.


The ones around here are all dead or nearly so. Not from some kind of fungus, but girdled by the little pests.

After they kill off the live trees they move on. I've heard they came in from Toledo, or Detroit??


If you have a few "yard" trees it may be something you can save, but I've heard it's pretty expensive.


What the little barstads leave in their wake;

 

[sachsmo]

Done a lot of researching on this topic.

It is not the actual boring that kills the trees. The brilliant green biotches bore the holes and lay their eggs.

The little larvae rove around in the sap wood eating all the sweets.

Think of it this way;

You get some parasite in you body that consumes all of your veins.

The sap wood are the trees veins, transporting all the lifeblood of the tree up and down.


Sad but Mother Nature is very resilient.


Bore holes;

 

[StihlyinEly]

The other thing about the EAB is that the tree does not have to be weakened for them to infest it. Healthy or weak, they gobble them all up with equal results. Results = dead tree.

They are not in my neck of the woods quite yet, but they eventually will be. We have a lot of native black ash in our lowland/swamp areas.

 

[w8ye]

I have several black ash trees in my 2A yard. They pretty trees

But one is showing signs of a problem. I suppose it will have to come down within a year or two. I'm afraid the pests are going to get into or have already started in the other ash trees?

Ash trees are easy to start but I have resisted having any more for some years now. I'm trying red oaks and maybe some cherries but they are not as easy to get going as the ash.

Easiest tree to start is the weeping willow but I don't want them.

 

[jh35]

Most of the Ash trees around us are dead. (Central lower Michigan). We are trying to harvest all of them that we can before they fall. There are a very few alive in the woods I have been cutting but there are not many leaves on them and the bark is full of holes so I'll most likely cut them next year.

Jeff

 

[StihlyinEly]

I have several black ash trees in my 2A yard. They pretty trees

But one is showing signs of a problem. I suppose it will have to come down within a year or two. I'm afraid the pests are going to get into or have already started in the other ash trees?

Ash trees are easy to start but I have resisted having any more for some years now. I'm trying red oaks and maybe some cherries but they are not as easy to get going as the ash.

Easiest tree to start is the weeping willow but I don't want them.

Red oaks are susceptible to oak wilt and a couple other things. You might look at getting bur oak. They are more resistant to disease. They don't turn bright red in fall, but bronze/red. They are more closely related to the white oak, and they are very hardy. Also a ton of character as they mature. Google them and look at pictures of mature trees. Very cool.

 

[sachsmo]

Plant American Chestnut trees.

The bug should die off/move on before the suckers off the dying/dead Ash trees mature.


Hope they don't find the appetite for other species.

Raising a few Chestnuts would be a worthwhile cause

 

[StihlyinEly]

Mmmmmm, chestnuts good! They don't grow in my little pocket of Zone 2B, but a great option for Zone 4/5 and up.

There will be some survivors of the EAB. Invasives generally infest, devastate and die way back once they run through their new food supply. Then the survivors and the invasives reach some level of equilibrium over time.

There's no way at all we're going to stop the spread of EAB, which is also true of most invasives. Prevention is about all there is, as well as intense study on how to maintain our native stocks once invasives come in.

 

[starsailor]

Our ash trees are all in very bad shape here from a fungal infection called ash yellows. The Emerald Ash Borer is not (quite) here yet, but many of the ashes have already died and many more are hurting. Won't take much to kill them off.

Same here. The hill that I live on is 70% white ash with the rest a mix of cedar, sweet birch, oaks, and maples. All the ashes are all either dead or in the process of dieing. The hill is going to look pretty sparse in a couple of years.

I've talked to several arborists and there isn't any sign of EAB around here. All the ashes are all dieing from infection. They die the leaves withering mid summer from from the tips of the furthest branches in, with the tree's last gasp being clusters of suckers at the base of the lower main branches, then dead the next year. The trunk falls about 4 years later as the roots rot off. I takes about 4-7 years for a healthy mature tree to die from this.

I've watched 7 2' DBH ashes in my yard die this way and have been dealing with the dropping limbs all along. In the winter during a heavy snow storm I can go outside and hear the limbs and trees on the hill drop every couple of minutes. Needless to say I've had plenty of big ash to mill up with my alaskan mill and Stihl 075. It's actually the reason I got it.