The control of nature is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and the convenience of man. ~Rachel Carson
Lately I have been dealing with invasive plants in my meadow, and while it is time consuming and can be quite the battle it seems you can at least make some headway even with some of the worst invasives. But this summer I was under siege again but this time from a different invasive that is harder to battle; insects, non-native insects to be exact.
Photo Credit: http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/eab/img/img.htm
The Japanese beetles were relentless and we were forced to put up traps. We trapped thousands of beetles in a week’s time and it certainly helped although we may have been too late to stop females from laying more eggs. None of our native birds seem to like these beastly beetles, and I haven’t found that they have many predators. Now I know you can put down milky spore on the lawn (which we will do), but I have found the grubs in my gardens too. And even if I get rid of my lawn more and more (which I have done) my neighbors are all about lawns. So the next hot, dry summer we will be doing battle again, but the traps will go up sooner.
This is the saga of the Japanese beetle. And where did this beetle come from? Well in all likelihood it was imported with plants over 100 years ago from Japan. One hundred years and we still have this pest wreaking havoc.
And now we have to deal with another imported pest that is far more destructive in my mind; the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). So what is all the hubbub over the EAB? Well this beetle is an invasive wood-boring beetle that feeds on and eventually kills ash trees (Fraxinus spp.). It also came from Asia, but this time only 20 years ago in ash wood pallets brought into Ontario, Canada and Michigan.
In that 20 years, EAB has spread into 15 states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin) and two Canadian provinces; Ontario and Quebec. Millions of trees have died, and 7.5 billion trees are at risk.
Photo Credit: http://www.emeraldashborer.info/surveyinfo.cfm
These beetles spread to NY in 2009 and have moved throughout Western and downstate NY. Central NY, where I live, has been spared so far. Recently we found out that it is not if they will invade, but when it will finally reach us. They are predicting that within the next 10 years we will lose all the ash trees in our county. Do you know that my county in NY has millions of ash trees seven of which are in my wildlife garden? And the whole state will finally succumb to this invasive predator.
The spread of EAB has been accelerated due to the transport of infested firewood and ash logs/products. In an effort to slow the spread, both Federal and State agencies have instituted quarantines of infested areas to regulate the transport of ash products. Of course you can also spray and put up traps and it may slow these bugs down. But in reality they will still kill the ash trees and spraying may harm the wildlife.
So what are the impacts of the loss of ash trees?
The impacts of EAB infestation in New York will be severe:
In New York, ash was widely planted in urban and suburban areas to replace native elm trees that were killed by Dutch elm disease. The loss of large numbers of mature ash trees can have a devastating impact on the urban and suburban canopy, which can lead to localized temperature changes, increased energy costs, increased water usage for irrigation, increased stormwater runoff, and increased air pollution. The economic impact of removing and replacing thousands of dead trees in yards and along streets, and the potential public safety hazards and liability issues of dead ash trees along streets, in parks and in yards will be a challenge for communities and homeowners.
In natural forest settings, native ash trees are common (white, green and black ash make up almost 8% of all trees in NYS forests, 10% of all hardwood forests), providing habitat and a food source (seeds) for both birds and mammals.
Ash trees are valuable commercially, used for the manufacture of flooring, furniture, and shipping pallets, as well as that all-American device, the baseball bat. The almost 114 million board feet of ash lumber grown annually in the eastern U.S. is worth about $25 billion. New York Invasive Species-EAB
And what will be the impact to my wildlife garden?
wildlife. All my visiting birds love to perch in the ash trees including the cute little hummers. What will I do? What can we do? They are asking us to prepare by taking down all live ash trees and replacing them now. If we wait, it will be more dangerous and expensive to remove the infested trees. So we will be making a plan with a timeline as we come to grips with losing our precious trees. It will take some time to mourn them, and I cannot even imagine taking down healthy trees. But we must.“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.” ~William Blake
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About Donna Donabella
Oh Donna, I feel for you. I hate to see any large tree die. I know we have some beautiful ash in our area but that the beetle has made or is on its way here too, as evidenced by the “blue boxes.” Ash on the islands here may survive only because they are isolated. I think I would plant several varieties of fruit/berry and nut trees. Diversity! Who knows what the next invasion may be.
thevioletfern recently posted..What’s Blooming: Gold, Fire & Lime
I know Kathy we just cannot be sure anymore…I planted a crab apple and black cherry this spring and they are small, but we hope they will grow fast…
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Urban and Suburban Meadows
Frightening statistics. I just received much educational materials from dontmovefirewood.org to give out at our outreach programs (the emerald ash borer tatoos are so cute, let’s hope they make an impact).
As far as trees, I planted live oaks which are slowing providing shade and then I planted a sycamore which grew very fast and seems to have a lot of diversity, and provided pretty quick shade, although it has a low canopy at this point although the dogs fit under it. The seed balls were slow to show up, and they might prove to be messy (maybe necessitating pulling a lot of sycamore seedlings? I figure I will sweep them and put them in the bird feeder at the time of year when I feed birds, or bring them to outreach programs in December where the kids can make christmas ornaments with them.
I feel for you. Death of a tree that can’t be left as a snag is a horrrible thing to have to go through. Good you are preparing a plan given the number of your trees. Hang in there, you’ll find the perfect replacements.
Loret recently posted..Rockin and Rolling Caterpillar Style
Thanks Loret. I will leave a few as snags in the meadow and back but I think I will replace 3 or 4 of the 7…
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Urban and Suburban Meadows
Thank you for your informative post. . .I’m in Minnesota, so I now have an idea what to expect. It’s very sad, and I’m so sorry you and your wildlife visitors are losing those dear trees.
Thank you Ruth. I hope somehow it does no spread too far from the 15 states.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Urban and Suburban Meadows
I live in Michigan where we have lost most of our Ash trees. There are a number of dead ones on my land and on our road, several of which have fallen on power lines, requiring emergency visits by the power company to restore power. The city of Ann Arbor finally got smart and has a list of trees that people can plant (if they want to pay themselves to have a street tree sooner than the city’s ability to replace all the Ash trees). The city is going to plant a variety of trees instead of the usual limited varieties, like Ash and Maple.
I will check out their list Susan. Sorry to hear what you are going through and i fear we will be experiencing the same soon.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Urban and Suburban Meadows
Donna – good article. this is what global warming looks like.
My biggest concern is that people will use pesticides to try to save the ashes.
Look at this commercial site http://www.emeraldashborer.info/ which is number one Google for “emerald ash borer” – all about pesticides, compete with recommendations from the kind of scientists who told me “Scotts does good things for the environment” and universities who get big money from the chemical companies. And arern’t these pesticides (e.g. Imidacloprid) the ones known to kill bees?
It’s self-defeating as the pesticides do more harm than loss of the trees.
I agree Sue and in the end it will not save the tree. It may prolong it for a year or so but once the beetle is in the area the tree will be infested and die no matter how much pesticide you pour on it. And this comes from the scientist who are battling EAB now. But we have convinced people that if you use these chemicals your problems will go away much like drugs that have more side effects sometimes and can make you sicker. Very sad cycle.
Japanese beetle traps attract more beetles. The traps are designed to separate you from your money. The only thing that works immediately is a to drop them in soapy water. I got 78 on Sunday. I especially like getting couples. I’ve even seen grubs at the bottom of the cup.
EAB is a much scarier issue. I too have a majestic Ash about 30 inches in diameter, the largest tree on our property. I do not want to lose it but eab is in the area where we live.
I’ve cleaned thousands of common buckthorn plus japanese honeysuckle and garlic mustard from the yard not to mention a list of relentless non-native weeds. You will always get something non-native growing just from bird droppings. If you get the seedlings (learn what they look like), this is as easy as it will ever get. When I find buckthorn berries, I pick them up and throw them back over the fence where they came from. Very cathartic but not too smart.
I hear you about the traps but for me as I work, I cannot get to them to drown them before the weekend and that is how they got out of hand…I was surprised the traps helped this time. I have been learning more about the invasives so I can get rid of them sooner, but as you say we will always have something invading.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Urban and Suburban Meadows
As serious as the Emerald Ash Borer is, and it should not be taken lightly, the Asian Longhorn Beetle (found recently in New England) has the potential to wipe out all hardwoods in the northeast. Another product of not inspecting shipping containers from China. When will we learn that international trade requires concerted efforts to look for ecoregion altering pests?
Wild_Bill recently posted..The Beauty of Imperfection
Oh no Bill…unfortunately they do not see the impact as a problem but inspecting costs money and affects their bottom line…once these invasions affects some company’s bottom line they may stop the nonsense.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Urban and Suburban Meadows
Donna, I feel for you. Losing all the healthy ash trees in your yard and being asked to “take them down” before they are infested.. I don’t think I could do it. I’d probably wait until the bugs came. But I would definitely have a plan what natives to plant in their place. Got to get another canopy growing quickly for all your birds & critters. I look forward to seeing what trees you decide on. Sorry..
Kathy @nativegardener recently posted..Where To Go To See Native Plants in California?
It will be hard for me and harder for my hubby to spend the money…I will follow up with a post once we decide.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Urban and Suburban Meadows
How sad to loose so many trees! I know you must be devastated personally to have to replace such mature trees. It is frightening to have all of these trees wiped out – there must certainly be indigenous wildlife that depend on ashes for survival. The face of entire regions of the country will be changed irrevocably after these borers come through. It brings to mind the imported fungus that caused chestnut blight and wiped out such a huge number of trees – scary.
Indie recently posted..Racing a Monarch
Indie there are several birds and butterflies that depend on ash trees. It is sad to think of the changes much like the chestnut and elm tree blights.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Urban and Suburban Meadows
The loss of shade trees can be devastating. Planting another tree now might save your plant community. I had an old, large Chinese Elm in my back yard. A small tornado came and pulled it out of the ground. We tried to rescue it, but couldn’t. Without the shade, grasses and non-natives weeds came in and my shade loving natives died. I now forced to redesign my entire backyard.
Carol that is another concern of mine too as many natives may be affected with lack of shade.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Urban and Suburban Meadows
can’t offer advice, but I can imagine how we would miss our two. Hope they stay strong while we live here. Do you have a wish-list of trees you would have planted, if you had space? Every time my husband is near a nursery, he comes home with another tree. And finds a corner to tuck it into.
Diana of Elephant’s Eye recently posted..Pig’s Ears in Dozen for Diana
I do have a bit of a wish list Diana. I am forming that list now and then it will be the task of finding those trees. We added a few smaller ones around the house and in the meadow, but now we will look to add a few more. I will talk more about it in an upcoming post on my blog soon.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Urban and Suburban Meadows
Donna,
I hear your pain. I’m in Ontario, Canada and we are losing a lot of ash trees. Currently TreeAzin™, a biological insecticide derived from the neem tree, is the only product registered for use in Canada against EAB. It is injected into the tree through several openings near the base and must be done by a licensed applicator. Naturally, cost is based on the dbh of the tree. For a large tree it will be several hundred dollars per tree. I’ve heard that the treatment lasts about 2 years and must be reapplied. It’s expensive, but for the sake of the environment, at least we aren’t broadcast spraying with insecticide.
Interesting as we have not heard about spraying or injections yet…Cornell has been saying to take the trees out so I think they are finding in the long run the tree will die…well it will be an interesting number of years as they slowly devour our precious trees.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Urban and Suburban Meadows
Japanese beetle traps attract more beetles. You have to dunk them in soapy water. There is no shortcut to their removal.
For those of us who cannot do that because of our work schedule the traps have worked…I will say it was not how I wanted to do this but it did work for us after a couple of weeks…every week less and less and then none.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Seasonal Celebrations Revealed-September 2012
The severe drought in Indiana, has helped these drat beetles. Traps, oh my yes. They flew in droves, bags actually heavy, to dispose, I elected to put heavy plastic, let ferminate, ugh, then put in deep freeze until trash pick up. Don’t fell a good tree, spray and treat according to Purdue, and hope for best. There is a 100+ year old Ash in lot behind me, its like a friend. Drought has been very terrible on my ‘hard Maple trees.
I wish Joey we could just wait and hope but there is little being done. We have a diseased tree which is our largest made weak with carpenter ants so we will take this tree down. What happens with the rest, well we shall see. Just following Cornell University and their advice for our local issues here. Hoping others can save their trees.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..As The Blooms Fade
In my area, South West Ohio, we have been hit very hard by the Asian Longhorn Beetle (ALB). So far our government agencies’ only solution is to cut down every tree the alb will infest. For now the only trees the alb doesn’t infest are evergreens. Drought has damaged most of the evergreens here anyway. Thousands of trees have been destroyed, including state parks, private and public lands. Entire huge swaths have been cleared. The wildlife here has nowhere to live. There is a systemic chemical that works to kill the boring insects, but at $100./300. per tree the government deems it too costly to use. Even if a homeowner has treated their trees, the government still removes their trees for “safety”. The (“our”?) government has no plans to replace any trees. The damage done to property to remove trees by a contracted, out of state company, is not even being reimbursed.
Jen I am sad to hear that yet another invader is destroying our landscape. I think our universities working with our governments are trying to stop the spread as ALB could destroy every tree in the country. Yours is far more devastating. We do need better plans for how to fight these invaders and then how to replace our trees for the habitats and ecosystems and all the critters within them.
Interesting that we do not hear more about these invasions. I hope a solution is found for you.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..As The Blooms Fade