Emerald Ash Borer

Well.  It’s confirmed.  The Emerald Ash Borer is in Iowa.  It was found in Allamakee county along the Mississippi River two miles south of the Minnesota border on property owned and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  It doesn’t sound like much, but four larvae were found in one ash tree on the land and that is bad news. An infestation was discovered last year in Victory, Wisconsin which is nearby.

If you don’t know if you have an ash tree, I found this link to help you identify them.  It’s from Michigan State University.  Michigan has had the infestation since 2003 and has lost millions of trees.  Iowa could lose 80 million.  about 50 million in rural areas and 30 million in urban sites.

Here is a site about the Emerald Ash Borer with more information.  It includes the fact that Michigan has lost tens of millions of ash trees and tens of millions more have been killed in Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and several other states. 

I previously talked about the EAB.  You can check out that page here.  In that post I mention that the species Fraxinus is the one that the EAB likes to munch on.  I have a Purple Mountain Ash which is of the Sorbus species and not a true ash, so I don’t think the critters will affect them. 

I will post more about the EAB as it comes along.

Dig it!

Posted under Pests, Trees

Last week an Emerald Ash Borer larvae was found in Clayton County.  This weekend we got an email from Rachel L. Dray asking if a metallic green bug was an EAB. 

She took these pictures:

Shiny Green Bug

It's not easy being green

This is the Emerald Ash Borer:

Emerald Ash Borer

The top one is the Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle.  Interestingly enough, it doesn’t have to have any spots on it at all.  The Tiger Beetle has large mandibles, which are the jaws, as well as long legs and antennae.  The EAB is very narrow and has smaller antennae.  While the Emerald Ash Borer is happy destroying our beautiful ash trees, the Tiger Beetle eats insects, especially ants, spiders and other invertebrates. 

While looking for this beetle to help Rachel identify it, I came across the Bug Guide which helped me out quite a bit.  I am amazed at how many shiny green bugs there are!  When you find a shiny green bug, or any other bug you can’t identify, try the Bug Guide website!

Dig it!

Posted under Pests, Trees

Well, it’s happened.  The dreaded Emerald Ash Borer has made it across the river and is in our fair state.  The Emerald Ash Borer, or EAB, is a very small beetle.  It is only 1/2 inch long and about an eighth of an inch wide.  And it is a metallic green.

Emerald Ash Borer

afgagaga

As it’s name implies, it feasts on Ash trees.  If your ash tree has Fraxinus as the species, the EAB will love your tree.  Read More…

Posted under Pests, Trees

As I mentioned in a previous post, our house is built on what used to be a corn field.  That means that there were no trees.  We are not the first people who have lived here, but we are the first to plant any trees.  Now, trees are not cheap…. Unless you have a dad who wants to save his Colorado Blue Spruce from the two Colorado Spruce that are crowding it.  All we had to do was dig them out and take them with us.  Sounds great!  My husband dug them up, being very careful to keep a nice dirt ball around the roots.  He said the dirt immediately fell off and he had two bare root trees.  Okay… that’s okay… they were free.  Dwayne planted them in our yard.  They looked a little… um… what’s the word?

Our North Colorado Spruce

Our South Colorado Spruce

Sick. That’s the word.  They needed help.  A lot of help.  Okay… that’s okay… they were free.  We’ll just water the heck out of them.  And then we will water them some more.  And pray.  And water them some more.  And just to make sure, we’ll water them even more.  The city liked our water bill that year.  When they’re free, you can’t complain.   Much.

Our North Spruce Today

Our South Spruce 2009

The birds definitely like them.  It is great for cover and we have at least one nest in the south spruce.  The sparrows and finches dart in and out of the trees all the time and we always have a lot of chirping going on.  The “boys” (our cats, Frankie, Louie and Clyde) love that.

Now, if we could just get the other trees in the yard to grow as nicely as these…. we’d have to pull out all the full sun perennials and plant a shade garden.  I don’t think I want to work that hard quite yet.

Dig it!

Posted under General, Humor / Fun, Photos, Trees