Emerald Ash Borer was confirmed in the Tower Hill/Prospect Park part of Minneapolis today 2/25/2010, by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

Snow is both a friend and a foe to trees and shrubs.  It causes damage as we know, but it also protects plants and their roots from temperature extremes that would otherwise kill them. 

Snow damages a plant by bending, breaking, splitting, and falling or uprooting.  In Minnesota, conifers are typically the only trees to have leaves in the winter.  Typically speaking these trees are resistent to snow damage with the exception of white pines and arborvitae.  Deciduous trees without leaves are not effected.   However in rare cases we get an early snow while the deciduous trees still have leaves.  This causes widespread damage of bending, breaking and splitting.

(This information was taken from TCIA press release called ‘Snow and Woody Plants’

The CTSP program is the only safety credentialing program in the industry.  It is administered by the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA).  At Maier Forest and Tree, we have 2 CTSPs.  Along with being Certified Arborists, Mark Cummins and Dave Weinhold have been CTSPs since November 2008. 

http://www.treecareindustry.org/Public/ctsp_about.htm

Getting ready for spring means planning your yard work.  If you contract out yard services, don’t let your lawn guys do your trees.  Every year I hear of so many companies spraying for insects or diseases that can’t even be controlled at the time they are spraying.  A lack of knowledge creates a vacuum for money.  However if you use a company that has thorough knowledge of the entire plant, from the roots up, you will find that your dollars actually accomplish your goals of keeping your plants healthy and beautiful year after year.

This is the time of year that people are receiving renewal contracts from their lawn companies.  Those services that address tree and shrub health should be looked at carefully.  If they are recommending fertilization for trees and shrubs more than once per year, they are using products that could be harmful to the plants.  If they are recommending spraying trees for a fungus or an insect, you should get a second opinion from a certified arborist.  Often these are sprayed at the wrong times to control the pest, or the pest is not even a threat to the health of the tree.  This is money wasted.

Maier Forest and Tree offers free evaluations for your tree and shrub health needs.  Our plant health care program makes a real difference in the short and long term health and beauty of your plants.

Winter is a great time to do tree work.  Our certified arborists work year-round providing quality services.  Winter pricing can help make doing work at this time more appealing.

It has been over 6 months since the emerald ash borer (EAB) was found in MN.  The attached link is an October article from WCCO in the cities.

http://wcco.com/local/emerald.ash.borer.2.1222214.html

The MN Dept. of Ag (MDA) is the agency in Minnesota responsible for getting information out on EAB and making regulations to control its spread.  The webpage that would be most helpful to reference is  http://www.mda.state.mn.us/plants/pestmanagement/eab.htm.  The MDA trains “first responders” to recognize the signs and symptoms of EAB and to accurately identify the borer.  Nate Runke, Plant Health Specialist at Maier Forest and Tree, is a MDA first responder.  If you live in the Rochester, MN area and you suspect EAB in your ash tree, please call our office (507-286-8733) and we will help you.

Nate Runke, our Plant Health Specialist, met today with the ArborJet founder to discuss our plans to treat EAB.  Using TreeAge through the ArborJet system looks like a very promising treatment that gets multiple years of protection and can treat trees that are already infected.  We are looking at all possible options but it appears we’ll have at least one good option…maybe more??

Today we had the summer Rochester Arborist Workshop (www.rochesterarboristworkshop.com) and learned a bit about wood waste utilization, following ANSI standards during tree removal and we dissected some big trees to learn about the effects of pruning on decay in trees.  Some great info given.  Mark Abrahamson from the Dept. of Ag. spoke on trying to contain Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) in the state.