PLEASE NOTE: In the autumn of 1995, we hatched the idea for a free, local gardening publication. The following spring, we published the first issue of Michigan Gardener magazine. Advertisers, readers, and distribution sites embraced our vision. Thus began an exciting journey of helping our local gardening community grow and prosper.
After 27 years, nearly 200 issues published, and millions of copies printed, we have decided it is time to end the publication of our Print Magazine and E-Newsletter.

Archive for the Emerald Ash Borer tag

Michigan biological control facility produces wasps for battle against Emerald Ash Borer

July 21, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Great Lake Echo:

Experts used to say the number of ash trees lost in Michigan was tens of millions.

Now they say hundreds of millions, according to Deb McCullough, a professor in Michigan State University’s entomology and forestry departments. Still, there’s hope for the ash’s survival.

“In a nutshell, what I found is that [ash] seems to be holding on quite well,” said Dan Kashian, who studies ash tree regeneration.

The mortality varies among species, but now the devastation has become an international epidemic, McCullough said. While some patches are worse than others, it’s hard to find a lot of live ash trees in Lower Michigan and much of the eastern and central Upper Peninsula.

The culprit is the emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, an exotic Asian beetle discovered in southeastern Michigan near Detroit in the summer of 2002. Adult beetles are metallic green and about 1/2-inch long. They hitched rides on ship and plane cargo originating from Asia and movint to Detroit.

Read the rest of the article here…

Scientists seeking help in search for Ash survivors

October 27, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Michigan Radio—

Researchers with the U.S. Forest Service are looking for ash trees that survived the attack of the emerald ash borer.

The invasive insect has been spreading across the Midwest and beyond since 2002 – killing millions of ash trees in its wake.

The Northern Research Station has launched a new online reporting tool. They want people in 10 counties in southeast Michigan and 7 counties in northwest Ohio to report the location of ash trees that have survived the infestation.

Read or listen to the rest of the story…

Native species help in fight against Emerald Ash Borer

August 19, 2013 • Leave a Comment

Wall Street Journal:

When the emerald ash borer showed up in the U.S. about a decade ago, the native ecosystem didn’t put up much of a fight against the Asian beetle—and the invader quickly munched its way through ash trees from Minnesota to New Hampshire, causing destruction that will cost billions of dollars to repair.

Now, however, scientists have found three reliable native allies in their fight against the scourge: Certain woodpeckers, nuthatches and parasitic wasps have developed a taste for the beetles. In conjunction with natural predators imported from the borers’ original home in China and chemical treatments, the native species are helping curtail the pest after years of destruction.

Read the full story here…

Don’t pack firewood this summer and leave invasive pests at home

May 21, 2013 • Leave a Comment

Invasive pests like emerald ash borer harm Michigan’s natural resources. As part of National Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Awareness Week, May 19-25, 2013, the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (MDARD) is urging travelers to leave their firewood at home and burn it where they buy it.

According to Gina Alessandri, MDARD’s Pesticide and Plant Pest Management Division Director, “The easiest way for an invasive insect to move around is on firewood. The accidental introduction or spread of potentially devastating forest pests such as the Asian longhorned beetle, thousand cankers disease of black walnut, oak wilt, and gypsy moth can occur through firewood movement. Firewood should be purchased as close to where it is going to be used as possible. If you are camping and purchase firewood, don’t take unused firewood home with you or to your next camp site. Take a stand against potentially devastating pests and burn it where you buy it.”

National EAB Awareness Week helps emphasize the need for continued cooperation and support from citizens, tourists, communities, government, and industry partners related to preventing the spread of EAB, but also offers the opportunity to highlight the potential damage other exotic, invasive pests can have such as Asian longhorned beetle, hemlock woolly adelgid and many others.

Traps will be established in Michigan again in 2013 as part of the National EAB survey. Traps will be located in Iron and Gogebic counties in the Upper Peninsula to look for EAB. The purple traps contain a special bait to lure EAB and are extremely sticky on the outside so it will not be able to fly away once it lands.

Michigan residents and visitors are urged to learn about EAB and adhere to the State’s quarantine banning the transport of not only hardwood firewood but also ash trees, ash logs and lumber with bark, and hardwood wood chips greater than one inch in diameter from quarantined areas. Quarantine violators face fines/penalties ranging from $1,000 up to $250,000 and face up to five years in jail if found guilty of transporting hardwood firewood and other regulated articles out of the quarantine zones or from the Lower Peninsula into the Upper Peninsula.

For more information on the Michigan EAB quarantine, please visit www.michigan.gov/eab or www.emeraldashborer.info.

Digital Editions

Archive for the Emerald Ash Borer tag