Emerald ash borer can be prevented. It can also be treated if treatment begins early in the infestation. Once the larvae have killed more than 30 percent of a tree, it is doomed.

Before EAB was found in the Omaha area, we were applying Imidacloprid to ash trees as a preventive measure. We apply this material, whose brand name is Merit, as a soil injection into the root system of our customers' ash trees. This product works as a preventative measure. For best results Merit should be incorporated into an overall EAB preventative program.

Now that EAB has reached Omaha, we have switched to a product called TREEage. It is more expensive than Imidacloprid, but provides better results. It is only sold to state licensed applicators who have been trained by the manufacturer in the use of its product and application equipment. The active ingredient in TREEage is Emamectin Benzoate, and it has to be injected directly into the trunk every two years as an EAB preventative or treatment.

University researchers and arborists who are dealing with this deadly pest say that the death of untreated ash trees is a certainty once the EAB infests an area. You can hire a tree health professional to apply TREEage every two years for a good many years for what it will cost to have a large, dead ash tree removed and replaced after the emerald ash borer kills it.

EAB Description and Life-cycle

The Emerald Ash Borer is a small, metallic wood-boring beetle, in the same genus as the Bronze Birch Borer (Agrilus anxius). Adults are approximately 1/2 inch long and 1/8 inch wide, and have a metallic green color. Larvae are cream-colored, flattened, and grow to approximately one inch in length. Typically, EAB requires a one-year life cycle. Adult beetles emerge in the spring and can be found from mid-May to early August. The adult EAB exits the tree through a distinctive, D-shaped exit hole, about 1/8 inch in size. After mating, females lay their eggs on the bark surface and in bark cracks. Larvae hatch in the summer and tunnel into the ash tree, feeding on the phloem and outer sapwood. The larvae create very distinct, S-shaped serpentine galleries under the bark, which disrupts the movement of water and nutrients through the tree. Full-grown larvae overwinter in chambers in the sapwood. They pupate in April and May, before emerging as adults.

EAB Description and Life-cycle

• Ash firewood
• Ash lumber and raw wood products
• Ash nursery stock

EAB can be spread through the movement of infested ash nursery stock, ash firewood, and other ash material. To prevent artificial movement of infested articles, the Federal Government enacted an EAB quarantine, restricting interstate movement of ash nursery stock, ash limbs and branches, ash logs or untreated ash lumber with bark attached, uncomposted ash chips and uncomposted ash bark chips larger than 1 inch diameter, and all species of hardwood firewood.