THE ARBOR DOCTOR

After a tranquil and mild November with little precipitation, things are about to change.  Colder air will work in for Thanksgiving, with non-accumulating snow flurries or light snow showers possible for the end of the week.

Conditions will improve a bit over the weekend, but this is ahead of a major weather system forming for the first week of December.  While it is too early to be too specific, be aware that much colder air will again invade next week and snow may develop.  It is not clear if this snow would target Cincinnati or other areas.  In fact, St. Louis and Memphis are even possible targets.

For now, just be aware that next week is the first week of December and the first week of meteorological winter and it will look and feel like it.

A different way to look at leaves:  click here.

SW Ohio Folks,

There is a new beetle that I wanted to put on your radar if it is not there already.  It is the Asian Longhorned Beetle (or ALB).  USDA APHIS began their survey last week for ALB in Warren, Butler, and Hamilton Counties.  The survey will cover a 16-mile radius near Mason after an employee of Downlite, a bedding manufacturer in Mason that receives materials worldwide, spotted the bug this June in the company’s manufacturing facility.  The survey is a proactive approach to determine; the beetle does exist out in nature or was it just a unique find in a warehouse.  In 2007 a dead Asian Longhorned Beetle was intercepted in a warehouse in Cincinnati. A survey of the surrounding environs revealed no evidence of infestation.

The invasive Asian longhorned beetle (ALB), Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky), grows and reproduces within healthy and stressed deciduous hardwood tree species, such as maple, birch, horse chestnut, poplar, willow, elm, and ash. The beetle eventually kills the host tree. The ALB hitchhiked to the United States nestled deep within hardwoods cut into crates and pallets and used to import goods from Asian countries. There are currently ALB infestations being eradicated in New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey.  The Chicago infestation was successfully eradicated. 

ALBs are large beetles about 2 inches and quite slow.  The exit holes are dime sized holes.  They eat the cambium first and then heads to sapwood.  You can put a pencil straight into the sapwood.  ALB can infest host trees as small as a thumb size branch.  Likely to infest the edges of woods first, as well as residential areas.  Bald-faced hornets are an indicator, as well as bleeding elms.  If you would like to learn more, I am happy to assist you.  I promise to keep you updated if anything changes. 

Those who find a suspected specimen may contact the Ohio Department of Agriculture Plant Pest Division at (614) 728-6400.

ALB in the News

Ohio Dept. of Agriculture to survey for Asian Longhorned Beetle – September 30, 2009

http://rodeo.cincinnati.com/getlocal/gpstory.aspx?id=100227&sid=155389

Have you seen this bug? – Dayton Daily News – October 1, 2009

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/have-you-seen-this-bug–324754.html?cxtype=rss_local-news

ALB Websites

ODA http://www.agri.ohio.gov/divs/plant/caps/alb.aspx

ODNR Division of Forestry - http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/health/asianlonghorned/tabid/5197/Default.aspx

USDA APHIS Program Aid #1655 - http://www.invasive.org/publications/aphis/walb.pdf 

ALB Pest Alert - http://na.fs.fed.us/pubs/palerts/alb/alb_pa.pdf 

Host Tree Species in Chicago & New York

Highly preferred - boxelder, Norway maple, sycamore maple, red maple, silver maple, sugar maple, horsechestnut, willows, and American elm. 

Moderately preferred – birches and poplars

Rarely attacked – mimosa, hackberry, green ash, white ash, London plane, and mountain ash. 

Wendi Van Buren

Regional Urban Forester

Ohio Department of Natural Resources