It has been established through previous articles; St. Paul and the Fight against Emerald Ash Borer is ground zero in the Twin Cities battle against this invasive pest. As we have previously mentioned, St. Paul is implementing a strategy of “Structured Removal” for city owned Ash trees. This has left many home owners wondering what is the best plan of action for their Ash trees. Should home owners follow suit and remove their trees or can a insecticide treatment save their tree from the Emerald Ash Borer beetle?
The city of St. Paul website has a wonderful flow chart to help determine an effective Emerald Ash Borer treatment plan for its residents. The flow chart is easy to read and is very friendly to those not familiar with trees or tree disease.
Essentially a multi step process is outlined:
- Is your tree an Ash? Ash trees have opposite branches, meaning the branches are directly across from each other, and Ash trees have compound leaves of about 5-11 leaflets.
- Does your tree have Emerald Ash Borer? Symptoms include: Canopy die back, excessive woodpecker activity, epicormic sprouts, and D-shaped exit holes in the bark.
The flow chart then outlines your various options if, yes you have an Ash Tree, and if your tree has or has not become infected with Emerald Ash Borer.
The flow chart suggests the options of:
- Ash tree removal
- Ash tree removal and replacement
- or Treatment of your Ash Tree
The two Emerald Ash Borer treatment methods discussed on the city of St. Paul’s website are insecticide treatments through trunk injection and soil drenching treatments. As is illustrated in the flow chart, insecticide treatments are safer than soil drenching in terms of protecting ground water purity as well as various invertebrates and mammals. Soil drenching methods also put children and pets at risk of coming in contact with the chemical, and is another reason why trunk injection methods are a safer route to pursue when considering your treatment options.
To those St. Paul residents who are wondering what their best option is in terms of combating Emerald Ash Borer I would highly recommend checking out the City of St. Paul’s website. Aside from the flow chart mentioned above there is much more information such as: persons of contact to help educate on the issue of EAB, along with links to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture where even more news and information is available. The City of St. Paul forestry section of their website is both a great resource and a great place to start for those residents looking for answers.
As always, we at Sweet Leaf Tree Service are here to answer any of your questions free of charge.