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Emerald ash borer feeding
The emerald ash borer is a small beetle of a metallic green color that is considered extremely dangerous for ash trees everywhere. According to recent reports, the bug has been spotted in the state of New Jersey and officials are trying to get rid of it.
Experts have been encouraging residents and municipal officials from several towns to go to the emeraldashborer.nj.gov and learn the best methods to protect the ash trees from the emerald ash borer, and how to deal with dying trees.
Douglas H. Fisher, secretary of agriculture of New Jersey, explained that the emerald ash borer is a very dangerous pest that could destroy all the ash trees in the county. Fisher added that the invasive bug spreads very fast and now that it reached New Jersey town officials need to take drastic measures and stop it from spreading further and destroying all the ash trees.
Experts say the emerald ash borer first appeared in Somerset County back in 2014, when it was identified by a landscape worker who was doing his job at a shopping center in Bridgewater. A few weeks later, the beetle was spotted in Bernards Township.
State officials worried that the emerald ash borer would quickly move south and it did. Traps were set in ash trees to track the spreading of the invasive pest in 27 towns from Burlington County, eight towns in Hunterdon County, three Camden County towns, and more.
According to the experts, the insect was first spotted in Michigan in 2002. Since then, it has destroyed tens of millions of ash trees from more than 25 US states and two Canadian provinces. Recent reports show that the emerald ash borer is heading to New York and Pennsylvania, spreading fast.
The experts explained that the female emerald ash borer lays its eggs on the trees’ barks, the eggs hatch and then the larvae get inside the tree. The larvae then start feeding and growing, which cuts off the flow of nutrients, which eventually kills the tree.
Originally from Asia, the emerald ash borer attacks and destroys the species of ash trees of North America. Experts say that the tree dies three to five years after the beetle infected it.
The official website provides all the information one needs to know about the emerald ash borer and how to know if a tree has been affected by the green pest.
Image Source: Daily Backgrounds
