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Our city sent us a letter informing us that the ash tree in our parkway was infested with the Emerald Ash Borer insect. The city removed the tree a few weeks ago.

Is there anything I could have done to have saved the tree? Or prevent the infestation?

LarsTech
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Assuming that you have not been bringing wood pallets from China to your home there isn't anything you could have done. This website from Illinois University is informative. The ash borer is spreading slowly throughout North America and the only solution we have is to cut down ash trees. Thousands have been cut where I live and many more will be as the pest spreads out. There are no proven solutions using biological predators in use now and no resistant varieties yet.

From various articles it seems likely that predators and new cultivars based on Chinese or Korean Ash should be available within ten years.

kevinskio
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  • Yes, my tree wasn't the only one cut down in the neighborhood. Sadly, one of many. – LarsTech Apr 25 '12 at 19:18
  • Hi kevinsky! I can't get your first or third link to open on my computer. The second is fine. The first brings up a blank page and the third just spins and doesn't do anything. Is it my browser? I'm using Firefox. It wouldn't matter that much because you have plenty of text, but there's a new question that might be a duplicate of this so I wanted to make sure it's working correctly. Thanks! – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL Sep 09 '16 at 19:37
  • @Sue just simple link rot I am afraid. Much as I try to get links I think will be good for a while there are always surprises. Links updated to new sites – kevinskio Sep 09 '16 at 19:43
  • Thanks for the new links! Should we delete our comments? – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL Sep 09 '16 at 19:54
  • Mm. Won't they get deleted in time anyway? Thought that was a feature of SE – kevinskio Sep 09 '16 at 19:56
  • It probably is - the whole comment thing confuses me! I thought since they're now obsolete we were supposed to clean them up. I have no idea if that's the right approach, but I didn't want to delete mine and leave yours looking like a one-sided conversation! We can just let the system do its thing. – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL Sep 09 '16 at 20:03