The Emerald Ash Borer has officially been discovered in Lincoln which means there are about 14,000 public trees and 40,000-50,000 trees on private property that will need to be evaluated and treated or removed. To help you make the best choices for your property, here is a collection of resources about the Emerald Ash Borer in Nebraska. Feel free to call or stop in at either of our stores if you have questions or concerns about your tree.
Check out this video from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture about evaluating whether your ash tree is worth the investment of treatment, identifying the borer, and some of the ways you can help prevent the spread of pests to other areas.
Evaluating Your Tree
Step 1: Make sure your tree is actually an ash. If you’re not sure, check out this identification key to help distinguish ash trees from other similar-looking trees.
Step 2: Determine whether your tree is healthy and valuable enough to treat. The Nebraska Forest Service has laid out some guidelines to help you decide if your tree is worth the investment of treatment and its chemical impact on the environment.
Treatment
Treatments need to be applied every year or two, depending on the type of treatment, for the life of the tree. Soil drenches can be used by the homeowner to treat trees that are less than 14 inches in diameter. Larger trees will need professional treatment. Treatment occurs in the spring and early summer when the tree is coming out of dormancy and the sap is moving up the trunk. The Nebraska Forest Service has clarified some common questions and misconceptions about Emerald Ash Borer treatment in this publication.
Replacement
If treatment is not the appropriate option, the tree will need to be removed to prevent it from causing damage to people or property as it is weakened by infestation. When replacing your ash with a new tree, it is important is to work to diversify the urban canopy. When Dutch Elm Disease wiped out the elm population ash trees were the favored replacement, leading to overplanting. The cost of removing and replacing these valuable trees in our city landscape is staggering. This time, we hope to learn from that mistake and plant a variety of species and genera to lessen the impact of the next destructive pest that finds its way into our trees. Work with your neighbors to help create a more resilient tree community in your neighborhood by avoiding single-species plantings. The Nebraska Statewide Arboretum has compiled a list of medium to large trees that would be good replacements for ash trees.
[siteorigin_widget class=”GFWidget”][/siteorigin_widget]
Eve Hulvershorn says:
Ok I’ll pass the info along, thanks!
Amy Cariotto says:
Hi! I just submitted a free estimate for our Ash tree, but it only let me put the diameter in for one tree. We have two in our backyard. The big one is 34″ in diameter, and the small one is 13.5″ in diameter. Thanks for coming out to have a look! We appreciate it!