Knowledgebase
Ash tree treatment for Ash Bore. #875121
Asked June 28, 2024, 2:09 PM EDT
Alcona County Michigan
Expert Response
I'm not sure where you live and the status of EAB in your area. But I am confident that EAB is still present - there are enough young ash and untreated ash trees around to support EAB populations pretty much everywhere this invader has become established. I also do not know how your tree is being treated. A trunk injection of an insecticide with emamectin benzoate (e.g., Tree-age or Mectinite) does not need to be treated more than once every 3 years. Other products such as TreeAzin or Azasol (azadirachtin) likely need to be injected every 2 years. Products with imidacloprid or dinotefuran need to be applied annually.
If there are very few live ash trees in your area, you can consider extending the treatment interval by a year. For example, maybe you can get away with injecting an emamectin benzoate product every 4 years. A healthy ash tree can handle a few EAB galleries and EAB is unusually vulnerable to Em Ben.
We have a big bulletin about using systemic insecticides to protect ash trees. The url is below. It includes pros and cons of various treatments, FAQs and so forth. I think you'll find some useful info there.
Multistate_EAB_Insecticide_Fact_Sheet.pdf (emeraldashborer.info)
Deb