The landscape of MSU’s campus contains about 900 ash trees — many of which could be targets for the emerald ash borer.
After more than a year of research, MSU scientists tested the effectiveness of an insecticide known as Tree-age in an effort to prevent the invasive beetle from spreading across the Midwest and killing ash trees. Tree-age became available for public use through certified applicators for the first time this year.
Paul Swartz, the campus arborist for MSU Grounds Maintenance, said the MSU campus lost about 15 ash trees to the emerald ash borer last year, and will lose even more this year because of spreading.
If the trees are beyond salvation, they are removed.
According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture Web site, they have eight wood disposal sites, as part of the emerald ash borer program, and the prices of wood disposal varies depending on the location.
MSU Grounds Maintenance is currently injecting Tree-age into ash trees on campus, and has been treating the trees for the last couple years.
“We are hoping to save the trees, especially the big ones, for future generations and students to observe,” Swartz said.
He said the process involves injecting the insecticide through four small needles directly into the tree, and the larvae of the emerald ash borer die when they eat the treated wood. The chemical is supposed to be effective for two years, he said.
“It’s pretty much considered the best on the market,” Swartz said.
According to the Chicago Tribune, it costs about $200 to treat a 16-inch diameter tree with Tree-age. The emerald ash borer has killed more than 30 million trees in Michigan since 2002 and also has killed trees across Ohio and Indiana.
“This beetle has the potential to kill every ash tree in North America,” said Robin Usborne, communications manager for the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “It looks hopeful, but more study is needed.”
Swartz said there are some noticeably dead ash trees on Harrison and Grand River avenues that weren’t previously protected from the emerald ash borer by insecticides.
Most ash trees have no known resistance to the ash borer because the trees in the area did not evolve with them, Usborne said, and because of that the trees can’t protect themselves from it.
Robert Haack, a research entomologist for the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, said the emerald ash borer is native to Asia, and can be found in China, Korea, Japan, and parts of Mongolia and Russia.
He said the beetle was discovered in Michigan in 2002, but is estimated to have been in the state, undetected, for several years, possibly a decade. It did not become a problem until recently because it took several years for the population to grow from a small number of beetles.
The larvae of the emerald ash borer feeds on the tissue between the wood and the bark of trees where there is water and mineral conduction, he said.
“Once it feeds into the tissue, the tree doesn’t repair itself,” Haack said. “Thousands of larvae are each eating easily a couple feet.”
With so many of the beetles doing damage, there is no way to save the trees once they are infested, he said.
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