In Minnesota, there are two groups of Quercus, the genus for oak trees: red and white oak. Red oak trees are identifiable by their pointed lobes. These trees include red oaks and northern pin oaks. The lobes on a red oak go halfway in, whereas pin oak lobes go almost 80% of the way in. […]
The Japanese Beetle is an invasive pest that feeds on the leaves, flowers, or fruit of more than 300 plants. Hosts include Rosaceae, little-leaf linden, birch, elm, pin oak, grapes, and other vines. They are one of the major pests in the United States, causing monumental crop damage each year. Japanese beetles were first discovered […]
Dutch Elm Disease is a fungal infection spread via beetles and roots. The fungus produces pheromones that attract the Elm Bark Beetle. These beetles feed on small twigs and areas where branches meet, called unions. Dutch Elm Disease can kill a tree in three to six weeks. This is why treatment and removal are so […]
As the days get longer, spring starts to feel like it might be around the corner. Seasonal birds return, the sun’s warmth comes back, and snowbanks recede. After the long slumber of winter, trees will be hectic soon. After the thaw, insects will be too. Trees and insects have a long and complicated relationship that […]
Ask anyone around before the arrival of Dutch elm disease in the 1960s, and they’ll regale you with descriptions of majestic elms arching over streets from both sides. Although most old elms are long gone, you can still find them in isolated locations. That isolation protected them from Dutch elm disease; now they stand as relics […]
Dear Vineland Tree Care: What’s eating my pine ? Sawfly larvae were feeding on your bristle cone pine, which is a very cool tree choice by the way. The larvae eat needles down to the fascicle, the sheath that hold the bundled needles together. Later in the year, the winged sawfly lays eggs (and earns […]
I recently read the 2013 study, titled Effects of emerald ash borer EAB on four species of birds by Koenig, Liebhold, Bonter, Hochacka, and Dickinson from Cornell Lab of Ornithology with great interest. In Michigan they found both red bellied woodpecker and white breasted nuthatch populations increased in areas of and EAB infestation from 2005 – […]
At the Northern Green conference in January of 2017 Mark Abrahamson, Assistant Director of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, presented copious evidence of the direct correlation between woodpecker damage to ash trees and an Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) infestation. Woodpecker damage is described in two ways: Flecking, […]
In January of 2017 I attended the Northern Green, an annual green industry get together, and it’s Master Classes for tree geeks. The dangers of standing ash trees falling apart due to heavy infestations of emerald ash borer (EAB), was one of the main themes of the conference. The effect of EAB, an agrilus beetle […]
Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is serious insect pest of our native ash trees in MN. Although new to Minnesota in 2009, EAB has killed hundreds of millions ash trees in North America since 2002. (http://www.emeraldashborer.info/) The State of Minnesota has roughly a billion ash trees. Treating ash trees with insecticides is an option to control […]
