Emerald Ash Borer devastating our neighborhood trees - what to do with wood

[bens_igloo]

As some of you may know, the emerald ash borer has devastated ash trees in Southern Ontario, Canada.

My neighborhood is about 45 years old and at the time was primarily planted with Ash trees (I live on Ash Street!). About 50% of trees are Ashes. From my visual observations, the majority of the trees are now dead or dying, and being cut down. It's sad to see all these beautiful mature trees being cut down left and right.

Of course, that also means there is an abundance of firewood available, including about a bush cord worth at the curb half a mile from my place. Generally speaking, I don't like storing infested wood on my suburban property because I don't want to spread the infestation, but in this case it seems like the writing is on the wall. The ash trees are all going to be dead in a few years maximum, and it appears nothing can be done to stop it.

What are your thoughts? Is there any harm in gathering / processing / storing this wood on my property?

 

[farmboy05]

IMO, it is just a matter of time, and it's a lot of wood. Now, i wouldn't go bringing it across the county from infested areas to non-infested areas, but if it's just a mile, sure. But if your property is largely ash and you think you might be able to keep it isolated somehow, then I wouldn't.

 

[KenLockett]

Is there not an insecticide that can be applied to the non-infested trees to prevent the spread to still healthy trees. I'm not really knowledgeable of the issue although I am aware of it but the thought above just struck me.

 

[Applesister]

I have read that Ash is a lumber tree for Canada. Black Ash. Infestation will affect industries up there. And its a bigger concern than in Michigan and Ohio.
If the trees are being moved within a mile radius, its within the restrictions of transporting it. Processing it for firewood seems as if it would help eradicate the infected wood. I know that they consider chipping the trees to be an effective removal method. As heat treating.
They set pheromone traps here to monitor for infestations. I see the purple boxes set on telephone poles and hanging from trees.
I think pheromone traps work like lightening rods. The use is debatable.
Dont know why the government isn't using pesticides on this one. Its been determined pesticides are more dangerous than bugs, I imagine.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

If the downed trees have D shaped holes in them, all the Ash Borers that have infected the tree have most likely reached maturity and left the tree to begin the cycle all over again, leaving that particular tree reasonably safe. Once the tree is dead the borer's food supply is gone and so are they.

I just read something from Michigan, I believe it was, that said infected trees should be cut at the first sign of the borer rather than waiting until the tree is dead to cut it. That by cutting the tree early it destroys the food supply, the membrane between the bark and wood, of the borer and thus kills the borer before it reaches maturity and escapes. I'll try to find the article and repost it. Treating infected trees is a difficult proposition. If you have one or two nice trees in your yard, treating them through injection or by systemic pesticides is possible but somewhat costly. Treating a couple of acres of ash trees is financially embarrassing to say the least. I'd take all the ash I could get if you didn't have to move it too far. Check with your local authorities and see if there are restrictions or bans on moving ash.

 

[bens_igloo]

I read in a municipal publication that at some point they were treating trees with insecticide, but my understanding is that they have stopped doing so because of the cost and because the Ash trees are so widespread.

The expectation (based on the publication) is that every tree in the region will be dead and removed by approx 2017.

 

[Applesister]

It might be just cost prohibitive to use sprays.
I would be scared to bring infected wood on my property. Ash are just getting established here. They are starting to appear in hedgerows and sunny spots in the woods.
There is a possibility the EAB will switch to another host species.
I just read a thread here about a guy who is wrapping pallet stacked wood with clear plastic wrap for mini kiln drying. Maybe....

 

[Wood Duck]

Emerald Ash borers feed on the inner bark of live Ash trees, so I wouldn't expect many of them to remain in a dead tree. Regardless, your neighborhood is already infested, and by collecting firewood locally you wouldn't be bringing EAB into your neighborhood. If you have Ash trees in the yard, do you think they'll be OK provided you don't collect Ash firewood? I don't. In your case firewood collection will make no difference to the spread or abundance of EAB.

I'd collect all the Ash I could store. This is an ecological disaster, but also a one-time-only firewood bonanza that you shouldn't miss. Get yourself 20 years ahead!

 

[HardWoodW]

Ash borer came into our neighborhood a few years ago- the only tree that has been spared is one that is being treated. There's more ash around than I have room for, but man I'm going to miss it when it's gone. It's my favorite wood, being a hand splitter and that I don't have room to let wood season for 3 years. Hard to imagine the day when I can no longer get my hands on some. I would say get as much as you have room for and enjoy it while you can.

 

[blades]

By the time damage is noticed, or bug is found you are on average already to late. The little beasties can fly - wind carries them far and wide very quickly.

 

[onion]

If there are trees 1 mile away that were killed by EAB then the likelihood is that your trees are already infested and are beyond help.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Burn baby burn All your ash trees will be dead within a year or 2 no matter what you do. The ONLY way to stop it is to treat the tree with a systemic insecticide. My dad has done it for 6-7 years now (when borers first showed up in our county) and it has saved the trees that shade his house. It is not cost-effective to treat a large number of trees. But in this case, the shade-trees have a great deal of value...

And as stated already, if the tree is dead the borer is long-gone. That is some of the best wood you'll ever get your hands on. Being dead, standing ash, it will season in a matter of only a few months (if it's not already "seasoned").

 

[BobUrban]

in the spring you will start seeing healthy(allegedly) trees start sprouting sucker shoots out of the trunk and base - no matter what you do or hope - this tree is dead. We are yrs ahead of you in the process and they are ALL dead in Michigan.

What I am interested in is all the trees coming up from the root system? I have thousands of mini ash growing on my little property and I lop most of them off to strategically give a few more resources to grow. After a few years I have plenty in the 15-20' and growing range. I will be curious how large they will get before the process begins anew? My best guess is once the trees mature to the point that the bark becomes thickly grooved the bugs will move back in.

Anyone with more knowledge than I feel free to chime in??

 

[Ribcracker]

I've noticed the borer seems to prefer mature ashes and leave the saplings alone.
It broke my heart to see the ashes fail but I guess that's natural selection at work. Once the ashes are all dead, I suppose the borer will die, too. And then maybe the ashes can make a comeback. More likely though, some other tree species will succeed in their place. So it goes.

 

[bens_igloo]

I have a young one in my yard (about 10 years old) that is starting to loose it's bark. Another I cut down last year. Next door neighbor has a very mature one that has very little time left.

Tomorrow morning I'm gonna go get me some wood.

 

[Ribcracker]

On the plus side, ash is great burning wood and it's real easy to split. It's rare that a single whack won't open it right up.

 

[bens_igloo]

For sure! Also don't forget it usually dries in 12-16 months! Big bonus.

 

[bholler]

It broke my heart to see the ashes fail but I guess that's natural selection at work.

It is far from natural selection when it is a non native invasive species causing it. Our area is hit really hard but you can be going along and they are all dead then you will see one that is un affected there are some trees that seem resistant somehow. I know pa is studying the survivors to see why. we are treating ours in our yard and it seems fine

 

[hoverwheel]

Do the borers die when the area is devoid of live ash trees? Can they be repopulated when that happens?

 

[Ralphie Boy]

New
Do the borers die when the area is devoid of live ash trees? Can they be repopulated when that happens?

At maturity they emerge from the tree through a D shape hole they make and fly off to the next ash tree, usually a damaged tree and the cycle begins again. The damage can be so slight that you can't see it. They lay their eggs under that damaged bit of bark. When the eggs hatch it's in larva form and the larva begin to feed on the membrane between the bark and the wood killing the tree . Adults don't directly kill the trees.

 

[razerface]

Go get them and burn em up! I have hundreds to cut in my woods. There is nothing you can do other then pay approx $100 per tree every year to save the ones in your yard.

 

[OhioBurner©]

On the plus side, ash is great burning wood and it's real easy to split. It's rare that a single whack won't open it right up.

While its certainly one of the easier ones, I must just be unlucky. I'd say my one hit split is more like 10%. Seems even ones that look nice and straight have some weird knot in the middle or at least a big wave in the grain. None of the larger rounds have I ever knocked open with one hit through the middle, but they slab off the outside really easy. Bad part is when you nicely slab off all the way around a 20+ incher, maybe even a second layer of slabbing, and left with a nice 10-12" square and I still can't split it through the middle without taking 8 whacks.

 

[phishman]

for those who have an issue with synthetic pesticides (for whatever reason), there's this stuff called Tree-Azin, an extract from the neem tree. supposedly, people are having success with it in Canada.

(broken link removed to http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=ea43ac06-e556-4f22-bf2d-c192b94aff55)

it ain't cheap though, we got quoted $170/tree/yr for a 5-7 yr. treatment.

this is a big topic for discussion between me and our neighbor, as we're about to get smacked (the borers have been spotted in the county next to us) and between us, we have quite a ton of ash. he's already taking the chainsaw to his, starting with the worst first.

i've been thinking about coppicing before the infestation hits and then doing what Bob has been doing, selecting the best stems and letting them regrow as saplings. as Bob mentioned, the question is at what point in the growth cycle does the borer hit the tree? will the borer leave the coppiced ash saplings alone long enough to get some harvestable firewood out of the regrowth and allowing the root system to survive so somewhere down the line the ash can come back? Bob, you might be on the front lines of this experiment, as honestly, I don't think anyone knows.

everyone should be saving seeds for sure, especially ones from trees that seem to be surviving an infestation.

bholler: if you come across any more info on those studies of why certain trees survive, please share. i tried searching the web but couldn't find anything. did find this though:

'Femme fatale' emerald ash borer decoy lures and kills males
http://phys.org/news/2014-09-femme-fatale-emerald-ash-borer.html

 

[BobUrban]

I will say the re-gen is obnoxious to the point annoying. Thousands of small whip like shoots come up everywhere and are truly hard to fight back. Obviously I do not want to poison it in anyway so I continually take my loppers and just work through the woods snipping off small shoots from like 10" - 5' or so but next year each one I lop will produce 3-5 more sucker shoots. Not a big deal in some areas but where my food plots and quad trails are it is a pain and time will tell if these newbies will survive long enough to be worth the trouble.

It is rather certain though that the root system lives on multiple years after the ginormous parent trees have been dead.

 

[BoiledOver]

Although it is a tragedy, this is not the first time that North America has lost its Ash trees to borers.