Emerald Ash Borer

Over the summer I noticed an ash tree at the edge of of lawn start to drop its leaves early, but I thought it may have been due to the very dry summer weather. I then started to notice little sections of the bark start to fall off the tree.



Woodpeckers were knocking the bark off as they drilled little holes into the ash tree. The woodpeckers were after the larva of the Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis). The Emerald Ash Borer is native to eastern Asia and was discovered in southeastern Michigan near Detroit in the summer of 2002. the Emerald Ash Borer probably arrived in the United States on solid wood packing material originating in its native Asia and is spreading across the United States.



Our electric power company determine the ash tree was a hazard to the nearby power line and sent a crew to remove the tree before it fell on the power line.



The larva of the Emerald Ash Borer lives under the bark of ash trees and feeds on the cambium layer that supplies water and nutrients to the tree. Feeding Emerald Ash Borer larva will kill a tree by girdling it. The bark on our ash tree fell off the log because the Emerald Ash Borer larva had remove all the inner bark from the tree.



A close-up look of the damage caused by the Feeding Emerald Ash Borer larva.