Emerald ash borer has devastated ash trees in the United States, the eastern part in particular.

It first appeared in 2002, in the Detroit area, probably arriving on cargo ships and, ballast and wood materials that came from Asia.

It is an insect native to Asia, and here in the United States, ash trees are very susceptible to the damage that the insects cause.

The ash borer is a green metallic beetle that lays eggs on ash trees, and then the lava burrow under the bark.

And because of that damage, it kills the cells in the tree that carries fluid up and down the tree.

Eventually, the tree starts to decline and most ash trees die.

I happen to have an ash tree in my yard that I've been treating, and we're going to learn more about that with an arborist who's come today to treat my ash using an injection method.

So what are we up to?

21.5.

Okay.

And that's going to tell us a couple of things that's going to tell us how many injection sites and how to dose it.

Okay.

And the label of the product will tell us how to dose that size tree.

Right.

So and to be clear this is a chemical that is not available to homeowners.

Right.

Correct.

I have to have a license.

Yep.

And take testing and, Yep.

Have the license to actually purchase it.

They call it restricted use pesticides.

General use pesticide.

And typically something like a restricted use pesticide.

With anything you're going to want to read the label really, really well.

Right.

But there are going to be some specific label requirements.

Yeah.

Including PPE.

It tells you, you know, what you should be wearing to protect yourself, from the product as well.

And of course, you have safety glasses and gloves on.

This product is toxic to bees.

So I do try to do my best to keep it in the in the tree.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That way, that way.

We're not putting something into the environment that a bee could come into contact with.

Right, right right, right.

So trying to do our best to keep the environment clean.

Chemicals, even though it is kind of difficult.

But it's also one of the reasons why we have these technologies now.

Right.

Because we used to just, you know, dump it in the soil every time.

Yay.

Or sprayed on the tree.

Yep.

And now we do have the technology directly injected.

Right?

Right, right right.

Keeping all of that in one place.

Yeah.

And so by understanding then and when you soil drench any of your plants or flowers around will uptake that pesticide.

And then if, insect comes to pollinate that plant there, they potentially come in contact with that.

They can.

That's where timing really matters.

Right.

A lot of times we'll do this type of work or I'm sorry, not injection work, but drench work in the fall.

That way, we're not doing it too early of spring.

The flowers are gone.

Pretty much.

Yeah, and a lot of those labels will say that, too.

They'll say, do not apply this while things are in bloom.

Flower.

You know, this is toxic to be.

So.

Yeah.

We kind of have to balance a few different factors.

Yeah, we have to balance the flowering, but we also have to balance the timing of the emergence of the past as well.

Yep.

You know, so right now we're at a point where we're past that flowering.

Yeah.

Which is ideal.

We're probably right on the money for emergence.

I think I might be a week late, but, you know, we're talking getting them right when they start to emerge.

Yeah.

And the larva that they're going to lay is typically what we're actually, targeting.

Yeah.

The larva.

The larva.

Right.

And that is a really difficult part about my job is I really have to time the lifecycle of these insects, to understand when they're most vulnerable.

Vulnerable.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

That's interesting because if I, you know, some good example is gypsy moth.

Oh, sorry.

Spongy moth.

Spongy.

Spongy.

Spongy.

New name?

Yes.

That is a good example where you cannot treat it with an injection if it's too late in the year.

If they're too large, they're not going to be feeding for long enough for the product.

Okay.

Actually work its way into the leaves, and then the timing's off.

Yeah.

Okay.

Now this one, we're trying to get it into the cambium layer right?

Because that's where the larva field.

That's where they're chewing.

Right?

So, you know, knowing the insect life cycle, how it feeds, how it reproduces.

And when it does all that.

Yeah.

And then I have to know which chemical or what product can actually treat it at that stage at the right time.

And then you got to get it at the right time.

Yeah.

So my job is difficult in some aspect.

Yeah.

I mean, there's been times where I've missed the window.

Sure.

So.

Sure.

It's easy.

Yep.

To happen.

Fortunately, I just kind of take a look at the tree and visually, I know I'm doing two setups, so I just kind of visually split it in half based on our fruit flares.

Because really, where I'm injecting, I want to inject into these root flares down here.

Okay.

Within 12in of the ground.

If I inject up here, I might be getting less of the vascular system.

It's a little bit more concentrated here as it starts to work out into their individual vessels.

So I like to try to go for these root flares, if possible.

Yeah.

So.

And to explain for viewers, the root flare is the portion of the base of the trunk where it literally flares out down where the roots then are extending down into the ground.

Yeah.

And we want those all to go outward instead of around the tree, because then we can choke the tree out.

Yeah.

Okay.

I don't know if you can see in it or not, but there is a very tiny gray.

Yep.

Gray ring inside there.

That's the cambium.

So everything this way of it is going to be flow on everything inside of that ring is xylem.

Xylem.

So these are the two types of vessels that carry fluid up and down the tree.

Right.

Yep.

Our flume carries sugar and water up and down.

Our xylem only goes up one way.

And that's water and nutrients going up.

Yeah.

That's cool.

You can actually see it.

Like you could.

Yeah.

That was it's one of those things where it's like it's difficult to see.

So.

When I do see that I'm getting good solid wood.

You definitely do not want to ever inject into decaying wood.

It won't work.

Yep.

So I see each of those have like it looks like little valves on them right.

We do.

Okay.

So now that my whole system is set and pressurized essentially I go through and I open up all the valves and I open up the system and the injection should begin.

And ideally, if I pressurized it right, no air would be in the system at all.

Yep.

Okay.

So it's running.

And what I do is I tend to look at each injection port to make sure nothing is leaking out of it.

Because that can happen if I drilled it a little bit too wonky.

Made the hole too big.

Yep.

Or if we had, if I drilled into decayed wood or bad wood, or if there was a wound above my injection port, we'd potentially be getting products squirting out of there.

Oh, interesting.

So this is great to see everything.

Yeah.

Cleanly working.

I can see it.

The fluid in the tank has gone down, so we know it's going into the tree.

Yeah.

So, yeah, this is going very well.

And then you can actually see it.

Yeah.

Definitely start to finish.

Yep.

And then ideally I wouldn't let air into the port.

So I do try to kind of watch it and shut it off when it does get to that point.

Okay.

Yeah.

It's like a little hard sometimes when, when they're all happening at once.

But.

If you let it go too long, you will get some product start to push out just because of that air pushing in.

Okay.

Last one.

If you're curious as to whether or not you have an ash tree on your property or in your yard and want to know how to identify it, here's some tips.

Look for this finely intertwined patterned gray bark and ash trees are one of the few trees in the woods that have opposite branching.

That means off of the main branch, the smaller branches come out exactly opposite each other.

Ash trees also have compound leaves, meaning each leaf is made up of many smaller leaflets.

The ports that Emma put in the root flare of this ash tree will actually stay in the tree, and the tree will heal over them.

Emma says occasionally, the ash tree pushes them out.

Injection treatments to help prevent damage from emerald ash borer occurs every 2 to 3 years, and that depends on how much pressure the beetle is putting on in the region, affecting all of our ash trees.

Hopefully this ash tree will live many more happy years.

Remember, you can find your own outdoor elements when you visit area parks and natural areas.

We'll see you soon.