Tree Care Advisor Newsletter

Inside This Issue:

EAB in Wisconsin By Lee Bergquist

1

DirT (p)articles By Polly and Sally 2

Plymouth Tree Sale By Polly Augustson

3

Phytophthora ramorum By Mike Porcaro 5

2008 Update Training By Rebecca Koetter

6

Contacts

The Story Terminator 8

Volume 15 Number 3 Summer 2008

Dave Hanson and Gary Johnson, Managing Editors http:// www.mntca.org

Summer, hope you have

found time to enjoy eve-

rything that it brings…

All too soon the bugs

and crud of summer will

be gone, so enjoy them

while they are here…

This is the time of year

to hone those diagnostic

skills. Left photo shows

typical maple leaf galls

created by eriophyid

mites… Photo 6-19-08

Emerald ash borer found in Wisconsin

Story continued on Page 4

Newburg - The emerald ash borer, the destructive metallic green beetle that has killed 40 million trees from Maryland to Missouri since 2002, has been discovered on private land near the Village of Newburg in Ozaukee County.

State officials announced the infestation on Monday after tests confirmed the pres-ence of the deadly insect, which so far has evaded any sure-bet measure to eradi-cate it. Wisconsin becomes the 10th state to uncover the invasive pest, which is believed to have hitchhiked to Detroit by plane from Asia. In the past six years, it has plagued both forests and backyards as scientists have scrambled to find methods to fight the pest and government officials have been forced to rework their control strategies as the bug spread. Last week, Missouri announced that it had become the ninth state to be hit by the beetle. Ontario and Quebec also have been affected.

In a news conference at the Riveredge Nature Center, representatives of the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the state Depart-ment of Natural Resources said Wisconsin's first known outbreak was brought to their attention by landowners less than a mile east of Newburg.

By LEE BERGQUIST lber-gquist@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Aug. 4, 2008

Despite efforts to thwart its

arrival, invasive beetle

lands in Ozaukee County

Emerald ash borer adult.

Photo by Dave Cappaert, MSU

Dav

e H

anso

n

Dav

e H

anso

n

Page 2 Tree Care Advsior Direction Team — DirT (p)articles ...

It’s all about the hours, all 50,000 of them! Come and join the celebration of all our hard work!

The Tree Care Advisor Direction team has organized a Pot Luck picnic to celebrate the 50,000

hours of TCA volunteer time that has occurred since the program’s inception. It will be held at

Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Eagan, Saturday, September 27th. We have reserved the Holland

Shelter for the full day. The shelter is equipped with tables, charcoal grills, a serving area, electricity,

drinking fountain, rest rooms and is fully handicapped accessible. It overlooks Lake Holland and has

a small space for yard games. Set up time is at 10:30 and lunch will be served from 12pm to 3pm.

Gary, Dave and TCA Bruce Allen will be furnishing meats for grilling. Condiments and drinks will

also be supplied. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share.

Holland Shelter is limited to 50 people with parking for 30 cars, so we encourage you to car pool!

Holland Lake Trailhead and Shelter Address 1100 Cliff Road, Eagan MN. 55123

Driving Directions From the North/South/West

I-35E to Cliff Road in Eagan, MN East on Cliff Road to Holland Lake Trailhead

From the East County Road 42 to State Hwy 3 in Rosemount, MN

North on Hwy 3 to Cliff Road West on Cliff Road to Holland Lake Trailhead

Please RSVP by September 17, 2008 to: TCA 50,000 Hour Picnic Attn. Rebecca Koetter 1530 Cleveland Ave. N.

St. Paul, MN. 55108-6112

or e-mail band0036@umn.edu

I (we) will be attending the TCA 50,000 Hour Picnic

Name(s):_____________________________________________________

I will be bringing a ____ side dish, ___ dessert to share.

OUR “COMMEMORATIVE TREE” BECOMES A MOSAIC OF ALL OF US

Have you planted a tree (or shrub) this summer?

Remember, with your help we will document them with a commemorative photo collage and story board, real and digital. We hope you are going to participate with the following steps:

1. plant a tree or shrub in a meaningful situation, 2. take a photo of it, (you being in it would be best but not required) 3. make some notes about variety, location and reason for the planting 4. send the photo and notes to Rebecca by e-mail or real mail.

Please consider this—you have lots of time.

However, we need all this well before September 27 when we are having the celebration picnic. Thank you for making this happen for us. We really are excited to see the extent of TCA tree planting in 2008. Sally McNamara, DirT Committee participant

Page 3 PLYMOUTH BARE ROOT TREE & SHUB SALE

This past spring Glen Hambleton, Lynda Forbes, Sue Manzyi and I volun-teered at the City of Plymouth Tree Sale. While Sue helped getting orders ready Glen, Lynda and I demonstrated proper planting practice and spoke with a good number of people who had questions about, planting, pruning, mulching, watering, disease and insects. The demonstration planting site was prepared for us and all handouts were provided by the Plymouth Parks and Recreation Department. Volunteers from Team Green Tree helped fill and distribute orders. Team Green Tree is a group that has special tree training and works on green spaces, trimming trees, mulching, planting, and sprucing up. High school students from YES, Youth Extending Services and a couple of City of Ply-mouth employees also volunteered that day. Lara Newberger who it a Forestry Technician with the Plymouth Department of Parks and Recreation organizer of this sale, said people as far away as Wisconsin had placed orders. Lara said that she likes to use bare root plant-ings and wishes people would use them more. A wide selection of plants was offered which included, Oak, Elm, Tree Lilac and Elderberry just to name a few. The bare root trees and shrubs were purchased through Grove Nursery with the help of Dan Sanford. Another tree and shrub sale is planned for next year. Last year when trying to prepare for the sale, Lara said she was trying to de-cide how to clone herself to help people on the day of the sale. She knew she would be asked questions galore about selection, placement, planting watering and general care and maintenance. Then the brainstorm hit! TCA’s! She said she could not have survived this effort without TCA help. She feels without the education we helped provide to the public, we might as well be planting petunias! She also feels that anyone can handout a tree, but a knowledgeable person like a TCA gives that tree a future. As I was leaving that day I thanked Lara for providing us with this opportunity to volunteer. Her response to me was “Tree Care Advi-sors are one of my favorite people “! Doesn’t a compliment like that just make you want to volunteer for next year’s sale?

By Polly Augustson, Wright County

Tree Care Advisor

Page 4 EAB found in Wisconsin !

Purple EAB trap...Photo taken in Saint Louis, MO. Photo Dave Hanson Below: Ozaukee County, WI EAB find has been con-firmed in Wisconsin.

Don and Sue Geier noticed a mysterious dieback of some of their trees - they were unaware that they were ash - in May. By July, "some had gone so quick, we knew something was wrong," Don Geier said. He sat at a bank of windows in their two-story log home that looked out on a stand of dying ash - skeletons against the lush mix of hardwoods that fill their 5-acre property.

Some two dozen ash are dead or dying on the Geiers' land.

Crews found both larvae and a single adult on the trees. By Tuesday, samples were sent to Madison, and by Friday laboratory results from Smithsonian in Washing-ton, D.C., and a government lab in Michigan confirmed the dead ash were killed by the insect larvae. Emerald ash borers kill trees when larvae, living under the bark, interrupt the flow of water and nutrients in the vascular system of the trees.

Searching since 2004 State officials have been looking for emerald ash borer since 2004; the pace quickened in 2006 when the beetle jumped from the nation's hot spot in southeastern Michigan to a state park in the Upper Peninsula and to suburban Chicago.

The emerald ash borer has become a "poster child" of invasive species, said the DNR's Darrell Zastrow, be-cause it is highly visible among the scores of non-native threats to the state's land and water. Said Agriculture Secretary Rod Nilsestuen: "We expected to find EAB in Wisconsin sooner or later, but this is still disappointing."

Wisconsin is home to 725 million ash trees, including 5 million in the state's urban areas. Ash trees have often been planted in many urban areas as replacements for elms, Continued on page 7

http://www.emeraldashborer.info/files/MultiState_EABpos.pdf

Page 5 Phytophthora ramorum (Sudden Oak Death)

A major problem in California, being monitored to prevent its spread into Minnesota.

May 2007 - Purchased 10 Satsuki Azaleas from a California nursery (2-3 years old – about 4” in height). The plants were purchased to train-up for bonsai displays.

February 25, 2008 - A call was received from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture asking where the plants were being stored. The plants at that time were being stored in a darkened greenhouse at 38˚F.

March 3, 2008 - Minnesota Department of Agriculture requested permission to inspect the plants. Advised that the plants were dormant and it would not be known for 4-5 weeks if the plants were alive or dead.

March 6, 2008 - Minnesota Department of Agriculture requested permission to inspect the plants as soon as possible. A visit was scheduled.

March 13, 2008 - Minnesota Department of Agriculture requested permis-sion for another visit. A recommendation to isolate the 10 plants was made.

March 27, 2008 - Minnesota Department of Agriculture requested permis-sion for another visit. On this visit leaf samples were collected from the one leafed-out specimen and soil samples were collected from the other 9 speci-mens.

On this visit nearby plants were also sampled as a precaution.

April 7, 2008 - Minnesota Department of Agriculture reported that tests were negative on all of the leaf samples.

April 11, 2008 - Minnesota Department of Agriculture returned to collect samples from other plants stored near the azaleas.

May 9, 2008 - Minnesota Department of Agriculture returned to visually check the plants. Two of the “iffy” plants were removed at this time. Soil samples are being conducted on all ten of the containers and it is suspected that all 10 will return negative results… Soil tests will take 2-3 weeks.

All visits were terminated with the signing of forms.

In the end, 1 azalea survived, no phytophthora ramorum was found...

An interesting experience for Mike Porcaro!

By Mike Porcaro,

Dakota County

Tree Care Advisor

Page 6 The First 4 Update Trainings for 2008

Questions—call: 612-624-4261 and ask for Rebecca…

Or call Dave at 612-624-1226.

Tuesday from 7-9 pm. The use of small ornamental trees.

For this class we’ll be doing Lots of walking on the St. Paul campus with Mimi Hottinger and checking out different plant options for small spaces. Do you have a small space that needs to be landscaped? Come learn about the different options of filling those small spaces with beautiful plant varie-ties! This is a first-come first served enrollment of 25 people. Pre-registration by mail only, $15 registration fee (includes cold soft drinks and water).

Wednesday from 7-9 pm. Deciduous tree identification I.

Need to brush up on those identification skills of deciduous trees? This is a first-come first-served enrollment of 25 people. Plan on doing some walking around the St. Paul campus. Preregistration by mail only, $15 registration fee (includes cold soft drinks and water).

Wednesday from 7-9 pm. More deciduous tree identification II.

Want more identification skills and practice? Can you actually ever have enough? This is a first-come first-served enrollment of 25 people. Again, plan on doing some walking around the St. Paul campus. Preregistra-tion by mail only, $15 registration fee (includes cold soft drinks and water).

Saturday from 9-11 am. Conifer and Winter tree identification.

As if deciduous tree identification wasn’t hard enough! Learn how to iden-tify conifers and learn different traits that can be used during the winter for specific deciduous tree identification. This is a first-come first-served enrollment of 25 people. Again, plan on doing some walking around the St. Paul campus…even if it’s freezing! Preregistration by mail only, $15 reg-istration fee (includes warm drinks and water).

Wednesday from 7-9 pm. Selecting woody plants for an edible landscape.

Everyone (or almost everyone) loves fresh fruit…and what could be better than fresh fruit grown in your own yard! This is a class that will look at dif-ferent fruit-bearing selections that are hardy to Minnesota and what works best for fruit production. This is a first-come first-served enrollment of 20 people in room 130 Green Hall. Preregistration by mail only, $15 registration fee (includes warm drinks and water).

August 19th

Sept. 10th

Oct. 15th

Nov. 8th

Dec. 10th

Page 7 EAB found in Wisconsin !

which were decimated by Dutch elm disease a generation ago. The next step for state officials is to canvass the area around the infestation to check for other affected trees. It is also expected that Ozaukee and Washington counties will be placed in quarantine, meaning that ash products will be prohibited from leaving the counties until the owner obtains compliance agreements from the state. The rest of the state will be unaffected, unless another state moves to block all Wisconsin goods with ash, the agriculture department said.

On Monday afternoon, officials said they had no idea how the beetle struck. It could be an iso-lated outbreak or part of a large infestation, they said. A common carrier is firewood, and state officials have imposed limits on moving firewood onto state properties.

The Geiers do not have a fireplace. A year ago, the state's only official option was to cut all ash trees within a half-mile of an out-break. The policy was based on a recommendation by a national scientific panel.

But the approach hasn't worked. It failed across southeastern Michigan, though it appears to have been successful in stopping the emerald ash borer at Brimley in the Upper Peninsula.

New approaches available

At the news conference, Zastrow and Brian Kuhn of the agriculture department noted that there are more options available today. A response plan approved last month no longer dictates tree removal in all cases because of both advances in pesticides and the experience of other states in the last six years. The federal government spent about $130 million between 2003 and 2007 to combat the dis-ease.

Among pesticides, the products with the longest track record are those with the active ingredi-ent imidacloprid, which can be purchased over the counter. A more recent product is one marketed under the trade name Safari 20 SG. It is sprayed on the trunks of trees.

Another chemical known as Tree-äge is injected into the base of a tree. The product hasn't been registered for approval in Wisconsin, although agriculture officials said they expected the manufacturer to apply quickly.

Both of these new products would need to be applied by a registered applicator, officials said.

Preston Cole, a member of the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board and a superintendent of environmental services for the City of Milwaukee, said he expected the city to be flooded with calls.

But he said it was premature to make a recommendation because officials have no idea how widespread the emerald ash borer is. R. Chris Williamson, an associate professor of entomology with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he would not recommend that landowners use pesticides if they are more than 10 or 12 miles from outbreak.

Also, treatments don't seem to work well with a dieback of 40% or more.

Williamson would not recommend the use of pesticides on an abundance of ash on large properties, but did recommend treatment on a few prized trees.

Contact Phone Numbers

Program Contacts: Gary Johnson – 612-625-3765 or grjonson@umn.edu Dave Hanson – 612-624-1226 or dlhanson@umn.edu Rebecca Koetter - 612-624-4261 or band0036@umn.edu Mailing Address: 115 Green Hall, 1530 Cleveland Ave. North, St. Paul, MN 55108 Contacts: Regional Extension Educators: Bob Mugaas — 651-480-7706 or mugaa001@umn.edu Patrick Weicherding — 763-767-3836 or weich002@umn.edu Gary Wyatt — 507-389-8325 or wyatt@umn.edu Larry Zilliox — 320-762-3890 or lzilliox@umn.edu County Contacts: Carver County (Jackie Smith) - 952-466-5309 or smith515@umn.edu Dakota County (Barb Stendahl) – 952-463-8002 or stend004@umn.edu Olmstead County – 507-285-8250 Ramsey County – 651-777-8156 Scott County (Jackie Smith) - (952) 492-5410 or smith515@umn.edu St. Louis County (Bob Olen) – 218-726-7512

TCA DirT Members:

Additional Reference Contacts:

Don Mueller, DNR Forestry – 651-772-6148

don.mueller@dnr.state.mn.us

Ken Holman, DNR Forestry – 651-259-5269 ken.holman@dnr.state.mn.us

Paul Walvatne MNDOT – 651-284-3793 Paul.Walvatne@dot.state.mn.us

Great River Greening – 651-665-9500

Tree Trust – 651-644-5800

Photos: Dave Hanson

Polly Augustson Rebecca Koetter

Nancy Bjerke Harriet Mason

Barb Gasterland Sally McNamara

Ada Hegion Lu Schmidtke

Mimi Hottinger Carol Strong

Chris Johnson Marty Strong

Infestation of red aphids on Jerusalem artichoke. No-

tice in the photo above the “cornicles” projecting rear-

ward on the back of the insect. These structures iden-

tify these red soft bodied insects as aphids.

Notice the winged individuals in the left-hand photo!

The reason I included this here—there are species of

aphids that feed on trees. Typical damage is curling or

distortion of new growth…

See the photo of green ash leaves center of page 1.

Cornicles: Identification

characteristic for aphids.