Angie's List: Stopping Emerald Ash Borer

Have you noticed a lot of trees losing their leaves earlier than normal this year? Have you already been raking?

It may be due to the cool weather. But there's also a good chance it's due to Emerald Ash Borer devastating trees across the region.

In many cases, they are sick ash trees. And chances are good they will have even fewer leaves next year.

Homeowner Duncan Davidson said "late last spring we noticed that on one of the trees the leaves weren't coming out as they normally do, so we had a tree service come out and do an evaluation and they determined that the two trees were infested."

He's not alone. Emerald ash borer is now infecting tens of thousands of trees in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, as it marches south from Michigan, where it was first discovered about 10 years ago.

Dead branches are a giveaway.

You Can Still Save Sick Trees

But our partners at the consumer guide Angie's List say you can still save them if they are not too far gone.

Angie Hicks, founder of Angie's List, said "the Emerald Ash borer has already killed millions of trees and homeowners are looking for ways to save their ash trees. If you act quickly you could save your trees."

Angie says now is a good time to have them inspected. She suggests asking two different tree services for estimates on treatment, and says don't cave to the first high pressure sales call you get.

Best Method for Fighting Borer

But a caution: Soil granules may be the cheapest fix, but arborists say they tend not to eliminate the disease.

Instead, most say injections with a chemical called "Tree-Age (TM)," or similar, are much more effective.

Michael Webster, a certified arborist, explained that  "the process of the trunk injection method is we use a trunk I.V. system that we put in to the trunk wood of the tree. We install some plugs that go around the base of tree near the bottom. Then the natural transpiration of the tree just sucks the product up throughout the tree."

In the Cincinnati area, several tree services offer the injections.  It's usually $150 - $200 per tree, and is effective for 2 - 3 years.

Pricey? Yes, but it is a lot less than $1,500  to cut it down.

And that way you don't waste your money.

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