Got dead Ash trees, but don't know why they died?
The culprit: Emerald Ash Borer 🪲
Emerald Ash Borer is a bright metallic green colored beetle, sizing smaller than a dime, about 1/2 inch long. They originated from Asia, but believed to have entered the U.S on packing materials from China; The first sighting of them in the U.S was around 2002, in PA around 2007.
The Ash Borer places it's eggs on the Ash trees. When the eggs turn into larvae, they then feed under the bark. Due to this, a disruptrion of the tree’s ability to transport water and nutrients occur, resulting in the trees slowly dying. Small trees can die within 1-2 years of infection, larger trees 3-4 years. Over the years, domestic quarantine regulations were made and have been revised many times, but in all efforts, the spread continued and has still been getting worse. There's been over tens of millions of Ash trees in 35 states that have been diseased, though we're very hopeful that some species of Ash will overcome these pests overtime 🤞
FYI: We're approaching the time that their eggs start to hatch, and larvae starts making their way into the bark to eat away! 🥺
(Pics from just a handful of our dead Ash tree encounters 📸💀🌳)
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