THE ARBOR DOCTOR

While there were a few scattered showers Thursday night, it has now been 3 weeks since the last rain of substance at my Cheviot 0.9 SSE location.

August stats to date:

Total rainfall:  1.63

Watering instructions, rain gauges:  Click here.

Emerald Ash Borer Confirmed in Two Southern Ohio Counties
Agriculture Department Adds Pike and Scioto Counties to
Quarantine

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio (Aug. 25, 2009) - Ohio’s Emerald Ash
Borer quarantine was expanded today by the Ohio Department
of Agriculture to include Pike and Scioto counties. The
quarantine helps slow the spread of the ash tree-killing
insect by prohibiting the movement of all hardwood
firewood and ash tree materials.

Specimens confirmed by U.S. Department of Agriculture
officials mark the first known infestations in both
counties. The Pike County specimen was taken from a purple
trap in Mifflin Township, and the Scioto County specimen
was taken from a purple trap in Clay Township. Purple
traps are detection tools set and monitored by Ohio
Department of Agriculture employees.

Since Emerald Ash Borer was first discovered in Ohio in
2003, the department has placed 52 counties under
quarantine. The quarantine makes it illegal to transport
ash trees, parts of ash trees, and all hardwood firewood
from any quarantined county into a non-quarantined county
without a compliance agreement from the Ohio Department of
Agriculture. Violation of this quarantine could result in
fines up to $4,000. Due to a federal quarantine, it is
also illegal to take these items from the state of Ohio.

Firewood dealers, businesses, or woodlot owners interested
in marketing and transporting ash trees or firewood from
quarantined areas can do so only with a
department-approved compliance agreement.  These
agreements stipulate handling practices that mitigate the
artificial spread of Emerald Ash Borer.

Ash trees infested with Emerald Ash Borer typically die
within five years. The pest belongs to a group of metallic
wood-boring beetles. Adults are dark green, one-half inch
in length, one-eighth inch wide, and fly from early May
until September. Larvae spend the rest of the year beneath
the bark of ash trees and leave D-shaped holes in the bark
about one-eighth inch wide when they emerge as adults.

For information on the Emerald Ash Borer, maps, compliance
agreements, firewood restrictions, purple traps, and
quarantine updates, visit www.agri.ohio.gov or call
1-888-OHIO-EAB.

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Media Contact: Kaleigh Frazier, Public Information
Officer, 614-728-6211

Since many areas missed much of the rainfall this week, a review of proper watering procedures is in order.

New trees and shrubs are particularly stressed by moisture extremes (wet and
dry) due to having a number of roots cut at planting time.  Please observe
the watering recommendations printed below.  Improper watering can harm
trees and shrubs and void new plant warranties.

No matter what type of sprinkler you chose, or if you use a sprinkler
system, it is essential that you measure the water applied. In the
Cincinnati area, in areas with clay soil, it is best to water one to two
inches at a time, once every seven to ten days in the absence of rainfall.
This schedule should be adjusted to account for variations in temperature,
natural rainfall, exposure of individual plants and the water needs of
individual plants. Do not locate plants together if their water needs are
dissimilar.

Watering sprinklers and rain gauges are available from the Arbor Doctor store online here.
More localized rainfall totals my be found here and here.

After a cool, wet July, August has been quite dry at my Cheviot 0.9 SSE location.  There has only been one really good rain here all month with 1.27 inch on the 4th.   In the past 16 days I have recorded only 0.35 inch.  Lawns are beginning to slump into summer dormancy in my neighborhood.

A recent trip to Great Smoky Mountain National Park allowed me to witness the devestation being wrought by the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.  This pest kills hemlock trees in the Smokies in as little as 3 to 6 years after infestation.  Read more here.

The HWA is in Kentucky.  Click here for more information on the tree in Kentucky.

Kentucky HWA Facebook site:  click here

Here is a very good overview of the Asian Longhorn Beetle, an exotic pest which threatens a wide range of North American tree species.  Click here

Click here for an article from an already infested area of Massachusetts.

Summer will finally arrive in Cincinnati this weekend, perhaps for an extended stay.

The weather pattern which has dominated over the past month, bringing cool air to the east and hot air to the western US, will break down.  This will allow the western US heat to expand into the east and midwest.  Read more here.

This new pattern may hold over the next two weeks.

14 day forecast:  click here

NWS 8 to 14 day outlook:  click here

Rainfall Tuesday was generous and over one inch area-wide.  Therefore, we are starting out with good soil moisture heading into this hot and drier two week period.

Summary of recent heavy rain and severe storms:  Click here

Watering instructions and rain gauges:  click here

A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect over Indiana into the afternoon.  Training thunderstorms have dumped several inches in spots, while other areas have gotten little rain.  Parts of Brown County, Indiana have gotten 7 inches of rain thus far.

Heavy thunderstorms are ongoing, especially in southeast Indiana, and these storms are likely to continue.  Lack of appreciable movement is leading to tremendous rainfall totals and flooding in isolated areas.  Other areas, such as my personal rain gauge in western hills, have gotten less than a tenth of an inch.

A line of severe storms has formed in Illinois and is moving eastward as a large bow echo.  This complex is expected to continue and may form into a derecho as the morning goes on.  Such a storm complex could be quite damaging as the day goes on if and where it holds together.

Bow echo information:  click here

Derecho definition:  click here

More about derechos:  click here

Yesterday I looked at a new dogwood in an area of town which has gotten heavy rain recently.  It appeared supplemental irrigation was being applied to the property.  One clue to this was a large amount of algae in a drain pipe by the curb.

The dogwood was wilted and in bad shape.  As an arboricultural diagnostician, I know that wilted can mean dry, but it can also mean too wet.  I pulled out my trusty soil probe and inserted it next to the tree’s root ball.  When I pulled it out there was a giant sucking sound and water was dripping from the end of the probe. 

Dogwoods are not swamp growing plants and cannot stand wet feet.  This is not the first dogwood to die in this location, even though it is a raised bed.  I am not convinced it is an inherently bad place for a dogwood, IF watering frequency was tempered.  As it is, we may have to move to water lilies!

I am injecting a little humor into this otherwise unpleasant situation, but the take home message is clear.  Measure the water you are applying and the natural rainfall with a rain gauge or you may be paying high water bills for the privilege of drowning you plants. 

I have watered my trees and shrubs exactly once this year and am enjoying happy, lush plants and low water bills!

Monday, I was amazed to find out just how spotty recent rains have been.  Just a few miles from my over-worked rain gauge I found a dry landscape and a tree which needed water.

Particularly heavy rain passed over my location recently, resulting in the following very impressive but hardly representative rainfall totals:

3 day rainfall last week: 3.28
July rainfall: 6.94
June-July total: 12.17

Monday, I looked at a tree in Cleves, OH, just a few miles west of my location.  I had to dig some dirt away from the base of this relatively young Kousa dogwood.  It had been planted a little too deep.

The soil was bone dry down to several inches.  I had seen a couple CoCoRaHS rainfall reports near Cleves which were substantially lower than at my house.  Apparently Cleves missed much of the recent rain.  I can confirm that much of the heavy rainfall I received was from small cells which did not cover a large area.

The take home message:  You cannot rely on the rainfall at the airport or at other reporting stations to determine how much rain fell in your yard.  You must have a rain gauge and keep track of what falls in your yard.  Click here to find Arbor Doctor’s rain gauge selection.