An arborist uses the Quick-jet device to protect a tree from life-threatening parasites..
North America is under attack! With names like the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA), Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB), and Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), these non-human aggressors are out to destroy one of our most treasured resources — trees. The EAB has already killed more than 20 million trees in Michigan alone, and tens of millions more in surrounding states.
The HWA is threatening the Eastern and Carolina Hemlock tree population located from the Great Smoky Mountains north to the mid-Hudson River Valley and southern New England. These insects reportedly arrived from Asia and began moving up the eastern coast, wiping out most of the 90 million hemlock trees in the area. The ALB is a little less selective. It grows and reproduces in deciduous hardwood trees like maple, ash, elm, birch, poplar, and willow. The larvae bore holes through the inside of the tree and eventually kill it.
The battle is on
Several courses of action have been implemented to stop the invasive insects. One is to cut down trees as they become infected, or even before. The intent is to isolate infested areas, but many experts view this action as simply delaying the inevitable. It is also expensive, as it costs hundreds of dollars to cut down each tree, and a new tree cannot be planted for many years.
Another procedure is to treat soil around the tree with a solution that will impede infestation into the tree. However, because the solution is not applied directly into the tree, its effectiveness can be compromised, and it can also migrate into adjacent soil and bodies of water.
A method that is more effective and less costly than either of these is to inject insecticide directly into the tree. This is done by drilling a small hole into the trunk of the tree, inserting a plug, then injecting the insecticide using a Quikjet device from Arborjet Inc., Woburn, Mass.