City injects trees to protect them from ash borer

thewhig.com
Aug. 11, 2015
By Sebastian Leck

Kingston’s ash trees are receiving injections this week to protect them from the invasive emerald ash borer beetle.

City crews are treating 300 trees this week to rid them of the beetles. Trees need the treatment biannually, so the city will treat 300 trees this year and another 300 next year for a total of 600 trees.

According to Troy Stubinski, public works operations manager, contracted crews will be injecting the trees with a biological insecticide using pressurized canisters.

“They’ll insert them at the bottom of the tree, and then the tree sucks up or draws the insecticide up,” he said. Emerald ash borer beetles dislike the insecticide, and any beetles infesting the tree will move on once the city provides the treatment.

“Residents would see those contractors out filling small holes in the bottom and putting those canisters on the trees,” he said.

There are currently around 3,500 ash trees in Kingston. Six hundred ash trees total are on the treatment plan, while the rest will be gradually removed and replaced with other species.

This year, the city will remove around 400 trees. The trees to replace them will be planted this fall.

“We’re committed to a one-to-one replacement plan,” Stubinski said. He added that trees with a diameter of more than 25 centimetres will receive a treatment plan, while trees with a lower diameter are typically removed. However, the decision to treat or remove a tree will also depend on its location and physical condition.

The city has created an online map of the trees to be treated and removed. At Lake Ontario Park, for example, most of the ash trees will be removed, which Stubinski says was due to the poor condition of the trees.

Trees scheduled for treatment are marked with a green dot, while trees scheduled for removal are marked with orange dots.

“Removals have been going on for a month and they’ll be going on for another month,” Stubinski said.

Other than the dots, though, the treatment will be inconspicuous, he added.

“It’s literally a crew of three staff,” he said. Without a trained eye, most people would never notice they were there, he said.

For private individuals who own ash trees on their property, Stubinski suggests they contact an arborist to recommend whether they should remove or treat a particular tree.

“You need to act, not wait, because once a tree gets infested, it begins to fail very quickly.”

Emerald ash borer beetles were first detected in Kingston in July 2013. The metallic green beetles kill ash trees over the course of two to three years.

The insect’s larvae kill ash trees by tunnelling under the bark to feed, which prevents nutrients and water from flowing throughout the tree. According to the city, infected ash trees become “extremely porous” and can easily break or fall.