I drove through Stoddard, NH a couple of weeks ago and saw clear signs of EAB damage. This is the first damage I’ve seen in New England (I rarely venture into southern NE. ). I know it is simply a matter of time until it gets to my trees, but they are still looking fine, and still growing. They will be harvested once I see sign of the bug here.
I have 4 ash trees that'll need to come down soon. Too bad. It'll be a job for a tree service, given their locations and sizes.
You are very fortunate your ash is still alive. I have one that for many years resisted the bug. Sadly, it has now been hit so I may cut it this coming winter.
Our black ash don’t seem to be dying, The white ash are taking hit though. I have a big one in front I have had treated every other year and it is looking very healthy while all the other ash on our road are dying or dead.
We had a large American Elm that made it to the late 90’s before Dutch Elm Disease got it on the home farm. I don’t harbor any illusions of escaping this bug that long. I drove from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo a few years ago and was struck by the number of standing dead trees. I expect I’ll have about a log truck load of saw logs to get out once the time comes. I think they estimate about 12% of the trees here are Ash.
I stand corrected. Saw a few ash trees today different area of western Maine that had clear EAB signs (some bark coming off, some canopy bare). Sad
Yes, very sad. Where are you seeing it? (I’m a Maine expatriate) Western Maine to me is at least above Rt 25, even though areas below that are just as western.
A shame it is still moving. We had some live ash taken last year during our harvest. Most are dead now around here.
Hard to like most of these posts. I've always loved Ash as a firewood, but never thought they would be gone, and so quick too. By the time we got our farm here half had already fallen, half of the standing dead was punky and only a few decent saw logs left (makes nice live edge shelving). I was able to get some Ash firewood for a few years, but it's hard to find any on our place that isn't too far gone. Back to the Earth is where most of it here is going.
Here in central Indiana I've started to see some living ash trees again as well as some new babies popping up. Wonder if the bug has moved on from here? We had a lot die in the past 10 or 15? Years
I live in the county where EAB got started 22 years ago. It killed all white and green ash long ago, but my neighbor and I have kept two of his medium size white ash yard trees alive by treating them every year with a systemic insecticide -- imidacloprid. We use a soil drench and it kills any of the borers that try to attack the tree. We think it's cool to keep two of the white ash alive since I have not seen any live, much less healthy ash trees in the area. I was hoping that once all the ash trees died the bugs would disappear, and maybe someday we could bring back the ash. Unfortunately, many of the dead forest trees resprout, and once the new sprouts reach about an inch in diameter, the bugs attack them again. This cycle can repeat itself, so trees that died more than a decade ago are still sending up new sprouts, which keeps the local EAB population alive. I cut down and spray round up on any of the sprouts that I see on my property, but the problem is obviously much bigger that what happens on my 10 acres.
If you had one in Michigan that lasted this long, that was one tough (or bad tasting) tree. I live right on the border of Wayne County and Monroe County in SE Michigan -- ground zero for EAB about two decades ago. I don't know how long it took to get to mid-Michigan, but not long I imagine.
