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Ash tree treatment for Ash Bore. #875121

Asked June 28, 2024, 2:09 PM EDT

I have a beautiful ash tree which I have had treated every other year for ash bore since the infestation began. Do I need to continue to treat the tree or has the ash bore been eradicated? Thank you for your help in this matter.

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

An Ask Extension Expert Replied June 28, 2024, 3:02 PM EDT

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