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Ash trees in distress: Identifying the culprit By STEPHANI FINLEY CNA managing editor sfinley@crestonnews.com
Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series on the emerald ash borer and how to tell if a tree has been attacked, prevention and treatment to stop or slow the spread of the destructive beetle . Do you have an ash tree in your yard? Could it be infested by the emerald ash borer (EAB)? Those questions and more were answered during a public meeting Thursday evening at SuperTel Inn and Conference Center. Mark Shour, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach entomologist, explained the particulars of the EAB and how it affects trees. Many in the room packed with nearly 100 people had concerns because of the December discovery of an infected tree in a residential area near the center of Creston. Shour said once infestation is found, the emerald ash borer has probably been in the area for about three years. The emerald ash borer is a small beetle that kills all species of ash trees, including green, white, black and blue. The federally regulated insect was found in four Iowa counties along the eastern side of the state before the discovery in Union County. “Emerald ash borer has a one-year life cycle,” Shour said. “It starts out as an adult. They come out anytime between June and August. They don’t live that long,
Contributed photo
The emerald ash borer is shiny green with a cigar or torpedo shaped body. It is about 1/2 inch long and 1/8 inch wide.
but it’s staggered and they’ll come out beginning of June through August.” He said the adults only live three to six weeks and lay 40 to 70 eggs, which hatch into larvae. “The larvae is a very flat insect that feeds on the bark,” he said. “They’ll feed from June until frost. They’ll live over winter under the bark. That’s a great time to find them, right now. If you’ve got a tree that is suspect you’ll find the larvae under the bark.” The larvae makes a serpen-
Contributed photo
The emerald ash borer larvae is made up of segments shaped like a school bell.
tine, or S-shaped, pattern under the bark. The last two or three segments of the larvae body are shaped like a school bell. The insect Shour said after maturity the adults then have to get out from under the bark and leave a distinctive D-shape hole in the bark where they exit. “This is one of symptoms you see for emerald ash borer,” he said. “It can’t be a round hole. It can’t be an oval hole. It’s got to be a D-shaped hole.” An adult EAB is about 1/2 inch long and 1/8 inch wide. “If you find something that is shiny green and it’s longer than that or doesn’t look like a cigar or torpedo, it’s not an emerald ash borer,” Shour said. “You want to narrow down your choices to this specific insect.” Identifiers He said EAB also does not create saw dust, and if sawdust is detected, it is not emerald ash borer. Adult female EAB do feed on the edge of ash leaves for about a week, but does not
cause much defoliation. Shour said most of the infestation starts at the top of the tree and then works down from there. Early infestation is usually found when the tree is being trimmed by someone using a bucket lift. “The crown of the tree starts thinning, then right below where the larvae are working you’ll get a whole bunch of these water sprouts, ... sprouts that pop out,” he said. “What the tree is trying to do is trying to out grow the damage.” But, he said, the EAB tends to stay in one tree until it is depleted before moving to other trees. “I went to Detroit, Michigan, for a learning experience several years ago and an ash tree that I saw was probably 50, 60 feet tall, and I saw from the root flare all the way to the top of the tree nothing but tunnel after tunnel after tunnels after tunnel,” he said. “It wasn’t like get in and then leave. It was like they keep using the resource until the resource is completely used up.” Shour said woodpeckers may be another symptom of an EAB problem. “Woodpeckers do quite a bit of work and you can see what is called flecking, it’s lighter bark and you can almost see it from the ground,” he said. “You definitely could see it with a pair of binoculars.” Susceptibility Shour said the most susceptible tree to EAB are those that are stressed, but that is not always the case. “The age is not as important because I’ve seen emerald ash borer in one-inch diameter trees all the way up to huge trees,” said Shour. “And they will attack healthy trees as well as stressed trees.” For more information on the EAB visit the Iowa State Extension website at https:// www.extension.iastate.edu/ pme/emeraldashborer.html. —————— Tuesday: Identifying the ash tree and prevent option of emerald ash borer.
2014 Iowa legislative session to be quick and productive (MCT) — Every state representative in the Iowa House is up for re-election this year, which means not much excitement is expected during the 2014 legislative session, which begins Monday. “I think this is going to be a quick session,” said Sen. Tom Courtney, D-Burlington. “Everyone is in a hurry to get this session over with. I would like to get done sooner than the 100 days.” Republican Gov. Terry Branstad said he will offer a modest state budget with few new spending measures. He also will propose new policies relating to bullying prevention, broadband Internet expansion, job training and recruitment in his annual Condition of the State address Tuesday. It’s a limited agenda to be sure, and the Republican-led House and Democrat-controlled Senate share those pri- Branstad orities. More wide-ranging or partisan proposals unlikely will gain traction in an election year. “Nobody wants to make a mistake and hurt their re-election chances,” said Courtney, who is not up for re-election this year. In 2013, lawmakers passed a massive education-reform package, overhauled property taxes for the first time since the 1970s, and compromised on health care expansion for low-income Iowans. It remains to be seen if 2014 is as productive.
Minimum wage increase One hot-button issue expected to emerge during the session is a push to raise Iowa’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $10 an hour or more, which Democrats are championing. Courtney already has drafted a bill he plans to introduce next week, though it seems unlikely a change will happen in one legislative session. Courtney noted it took him four years to win approval when he last proposed a minimum-wage hike in 2003. At the federal level, Sen. Tom Harkin is leading an effort to boost the federal minimum wage gradually to $10.10 an hour from the current $7.25. Harkin President Barack Obama supports the measure, and a nationwide coalition of labor unions and worker-rights groups is lobbying on its behalf. “It might take a couple of years to get there,” Courtney said. When the $7.25 hourly rate was set in 2007 by Gov. Chet Culver and fellow Democrats in the Legislature, it was above the federal rate, but now it’s identical to the national rate. Twentyone states and the District of Columbia now have minimum wage rates more than the national average, and 11 states adjust their minimum wage annually, based on a cost-of-living formula. Democrats and Republicans are divided over the bill. “I see a lot of young people who sorely need the minimum wage raised. They are working in poverty, and that’s not acceptable,” said Sen. Rich Taylor, D-Mount Pleasant. Rep. Tom Sands, R-Wapello, said he would not vote for an increase. “I’ve never voted on a minimum-wage increase in my life, and I don’t think that’s something government should set,” he said. “I would be more in favor of bringing in better-paying jobs.” Rep. Dave Heaton, R-Mount Pleasant, said he’s still undecided about the increase.
Contributed photo
The emerald ash borer larvae leaves a serpintine-shaped tunnel under the bark of ash trees.
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Contents
Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-9 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Deaths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Heloise Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-8
Tuesday weather High 33 Low 14 Full weather report, 3A