The Emerald Ash Borer is a highly destructive nasty little bug that is killing millions of ash trees throughout Ontario and the Great Lakes Region. It probably stowed away in a shipment of infected wood from Asia, and it's thrived ever since. Its larvae tunnels though the trees vascular system cutting off water, nutrients and sugars, and once infected with these little devils, the poor tree doesn't stand a chance.
Wood from infected trees shouldn't be moved to another location as the infection can move with it to previously clean areas.
A young ash tree in front of my house suffered the same fate in 2015. It was replaced with an Armstrong Maple.... I blogged about it here.
This lovely ash tree is managing to stay healthy so far.... with a little help from the Forestry people.
Fingers crossed that this mature tree will survive. I gave it an encouraging pat and told it to be very brave and to trust the Forestry people! They know what they are doing.
Fingers and toes crossed. Those sort of beasties are sneaky and very hard to defeat when they get a foothold.
ReplyDeleteThey are very pretty though, a nice shiny emerald green.
DeleteFingers absolutely crossed Shammi. They may be small but they're deadly!
ReplyDeleteYes, and you can't really see the damage on the tree until it's too late to do anything about it.
DeleteI hope it works.
ReplyDeleteSo does the tree.
DeleteGlobalization has its drawback. Everything moves around the world these day! Hope this tree survives.
ReplyDeleteSo many of the destructive insects, plants, animals etc have been imported from abroad, and have no natural predators. Fingers crossed for this lovely tree.
DeleteAll the ash trees in my development have been felled because of the ash borer damage. Sad to see them go, but no option.
ReplyDeleteThe same happened here, whole streets of ash trees gone. Being replaced with an assortment of trees, not just one species.
DeleteBoud.... for some reason I can no longer access your blog.
DeleteThat critter looks a lot like the Box Elder Beatle that invaded our tree and backyard.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see the tree being protected and thriving.
It seems that many of our trees across the US are being decimated by bugs boring into the core and killing them from the inside out.
Sue
Lots of nasty little bugs and beetles, mostly arriving from abroad, and making themselves at home in North America. Go Home, Bugs!
DeleteThey are hugely problematic.
ReplyDeleteYes a very serious problem. We need to look after our trees.
DeleteWhat a shame that so many trees have been lost to this insect. It seems to be an unfortunate side effect of modern life that bugs enter different countries (where they find no natural predators) and thrive, doing so much damage.
ReplyDeleteEfforts are being made to eliminate this nasty insect, but it will take a long time.
DeleteThe Ash Tree looks so majestic. I keep my fingers crossed, too. Bugs hitch-hike with the shipping container. In my country, the Environment Ministry is fighting to stop the spread and settlement of venomous fire ants found at the shipping containers from overseas.
ReplyDeleteThe presence of venomous fire ants sounds very threatening. And probably there are no predators to kill them.
DeleteAnother "Dutch Elm Disease". We import so many problems in our wood, our vegetables, and other plants. Sad, really sad.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope the tree survives and we can get rid of this nasty little bug.
DeleteWe have lost so many species and others are imperilled, I am really starting to wonder what our forests will look like in a few years. I was noticing that nearly all the beech at SpruceHaven are now infected and our maple/beech forest is destined to lose its beech. It is pretty sad,
ReplyDelete