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new location,humans have certainly done their part to help this insect spread. Firewood, nursery stock, and timber harvesting have all contributed to EAB moving from town to town at 65 mph.It would take Dutch elm disease 50 years to travel about 800 miles from the first find.Emerald ash borer moved that far — in every direction — in less than seven years. Management tools have changed significantly during the past decade through the efforts of industry and university scientists.At the time of discovery, the management tools of related flathead borers consisted primarily of soil-applied imidacloprid and trunk sprays of pyrethroids; but emerald ash borer would prove more challenging than the current tools could handle. Initial recommendations from Trees before and after emerald ash borer. state authorities were that treatments were ineffec- Photo courtesy of Dr. Dan A. Herms, The Ohio State University tive and costly, leaving homeowners and urban With a multitude of active ingredients,trade names,application methforesters with a sense of helplessness. New management tools, such as the introduction of emamectin benzoate (TREE-age), would be a ray of ods,and marketing claims,both homeowners and arborists alike were often hope that trees could be protected from EAB, and, in some cases, even left wondering what were the best options available to them.To help allesaved if already infested. Field experience was showing soil applications viate some of the confusion,the universities of Ohio State,Michigan State, of imidacloprid were effective on smaller trees, but failing on larger trees. Illinois,Wisconsin-Madison,and Purdue produced a document establishNew research would lead the EPA to approve new application rates to ing the treatment options best supported by the research data.This helped protect larger trees with imidacloprid (Xytect).Another tool, dinotefu- further the understanding of what treatments were available and what to ran (Safari,Transtect),would become available as a faster-acting soil-applied consider when settling on one.Around the same time, research began in treatment, and also open up systemic bark-spray applications as an option Canada on the use of azadirachtin (TeeAzin), the first organic, OMRIlisted treatment option for EAB.There are now well-established protocols for arborists. EAB Timeline Sometime in the mid-to-late 1990s • Emerald ash borer arrives in Michigan on shipping crates of automotive parts from China. 2002 • EAB first detected in Canton, Mich. • USDA-APHIS, USDA-FS begin to fund research with Universities. Federal quarantine established. 2003 • EAB found in Maryland and Virginia, both from imported nursery stock. • Found in Ohio. www.arborage.com 2004 • Found in Indiana. 2005 • Found in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. • Emamectin benzoate (TREEAGE) becomes available with 24C Label. Research shows 2 years of control and promise for saving infested trees. • Rate trials begin for treatments on larger trees. 2006 • Found in Illinois. • Chicago is first major city to implement a citywide ash program that incorporates treatments and removals. 2007 • Found in Pittsburgh • Five universities produce the first consensus document on the treatment options for EAB. • Research trials on treatment options, rates, and application timing begin in Hazel Crest, Ill. 2008 • Found in Missouri. • Canadian Forest Service begins research on azadirachtin, as an OMRI-listed, organic treatment for EAB. (Continued on page 10) Arbor Age / April 2013 9