Hey, there! Log in / Register

Horrid tree-killing bug found in Cambridge

The Cambridge Civic Journal reports that emerald ash borers have shown up in Cambridge. The bugs munch away at ash trees, killing them within one to three years and leaving behind brittle husks with branches that can fall on people below.

In preparation for the bugs, the city has been injecting ash trees for the past three years with a product, derived from the seeds of another type of tree. Cambridge has been on alert since 2014, when one of the bugs was found in a trap at the Arnold Arboretum just across the river.

Neighborhoods: 
Free tagging: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

The "anti-adorable"

#elmer

up
Voting closed 0

The "Read more" link doesn't work, it says I'm trying to do something I don't have permission to do.

up
Voting closed 0

Sorry about the bug bug.

up
Voting closed 0

Landscaper and gardener by trade... this is dreadful news.
Hopefully, with luck, the inoculant program works.

Anyone with ash trees on their property, on their streets, or in their yards, please keep a watchful eye. Pass these links on to help speak for the trees:

Not sure what an ash looks like?*
Guide to identifying ash trees

All about emerald ash borers and how to tell symptoms & signs apart from other insects and diseases
EAB identification and information

oops.
*correction: I derped and typed elms where I meant ash and I'm sorry for the confusion. Dutch Elm disease was on my mind as I was reading the article.

up
Voting closed 0

Should I be checking on the few elms in my part of Somerville?

up
Voting closed 0

Ash. I shouldn't post when insufficiently caffeinated, thank you for catching that!

up
Voting closed 0

Madison, WI is currently plagued by these. Every street in the city has a stump or a recently ground stump from where a tree had to be cut down. Such a bummer.

up
Voting closed 0

"Landscaper and gardener by trade... this is dreadful news.
Hopefully, with luck, the inoculant program works."

It is bad news. They found one in Rhode Island.

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/resources/pests-diseases/hungry-pests/t...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_ash_borer

There's no real cure to the problem. They're in about thirty states. Winters aren't cold enough, summers aren't hot enough and there are no natural enemies.

Don't move firewood. Don't move ash trees. It's illegal to import firewood into Maine. I believe this applies to other states as well.

up
Voting closed 0

Winters aren't cold enough, summers aren't hot enough

Actually, summers are getting quite a bit hotter: http://www.wbur.org/news/2017/08/23/massachusetts-temperature-precipitation

up
Voting closed 0