Beetle warning, Leicester, MA

[Maplesedge]

Driving around Waite Pond this morning, up to the dump, and noticed many long black Asian Longhorn Beetle traps in the trees. Ruth Kaminski at the dump thinks beetles may be as far as Henshaw St now, but the trapping will be definitive. Must be the season they emerge and fly to new trees. Cutting maples in Worcester is one thing, but here it's heavily wooded. Not going to be pretty if they start thinning out the woods. Mapling may not last too much longer around here. Sad. :cry:

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Are you sure they were for Asian Longhorn Beetles or were they emerald ash borer traps?

[madmapler]

The ashborer traps around here are purple triangular boxes that hang on a rope. They've been around a few years now.

[Maplesedge]

Ruth confirms they're for the ALB. About 3 feet long, black, with fins and a collection cup on the bottom. Worcester is the epicenter of the ALB invasion, it's only a matter of time before they find beetles here, we're right next door? They've been very agressive in Worcester, removing tens of thousands of trees, but the ALB wasn't noticed for years, they estimate it may have been here over 20 years now. It's hard to be optimistic.

[happy thoughts]

Here's hoping those traps are only for surveillance and none are actually found. You are right, ALB could be disastrous for maple since it's the preferred host tree. Cutting down trees is sad but it is the only way so far to limit the infestation. Since you are in a quarantine area, are you monitoring your own trees and looking for signs of infestation? Just curious, but how aggressive are your conservation district, maple assoc.,. etc. in educating the public for the signs to look for?

[BreezyHill]

We have several purple traps in our area one is not 1000' from an area that was strictly ash. This summer the last ones will be coming down as they are dead or nearly dead. The trap has never caught a single beetle yet I took a pic of one that landed on the tractor while mowing hay around the edge of those same woods.

I got some harsh recommendations from the DEC forester on how to limit the effects. This summer we are cleaning all down wood from the woods, cutting dead trees down, and working on clearing all honey suckle from the bush also. It wont be the habitat for wildlife it has been for years but I value the maples more than the rest.

Strong healthy trees are the best defense, I was told. We survived the Jippsy Moths so I hope we do this too.

[happy thoughts]

We have several purple traps in our area one

These are for emerald ash borer not ALB. As maplesedge said, those for ALB are long and black. EAB is serious and killing lots of ashes but ALB has the potential to wipe out the maple industry. In that light, you can understand how important new harvesting methods like Dr Tim's and his colleague's tree farming research may become.

[madmapler]

My ash trees are dying off also. It seems the trees I left standing when I cleared a few years back went first.

[Maplesedge]

Here's hoping those traps are only for surveillance and none are actually found. You are right, ALB could be disastrous for maple since it's the preferred host tree. Cutting down trees is sad but it is the only way so far to limit the infestation. Since you are in a quarantine area, are you monitoring your own trees and looking for signs of infestation? Just curious, but how aggressive are your conservation district, maple assoc.,. etc. in educating the public for the signs to look for?

It's well advertised around here, but most people have no clue. I haven't seen any yet, and I hope they don't find any either, but like in the Jurrasic Park movies, "nature finds a way". AFAIK, they dont spread too far from the tree they emerge from, so they may be able to contain them, now that they are actively looking. The feds have been here a couple years now, very aggressively searching out and removing infested maples, but It's like watching a slow motion horror film as the map of the affected area slowly grows, and into my backyard. I only tap three trees, which are about 2 miles further out, so I should be able to make syrup a couple more years. (I have no trees of my own.) Aggressive as they are, once an insect species is here, it's hard to believe they'll ever be able to totally eradicate them.

[Maplesedge]

Looks bad. Ruth reports beetles found all along Henshaw St. to Stafford St., and likely much further, but not confirmed yet.

At this point it's only exploratory. The cost to remove all the maples in such a wooded town might be hard for the govt to bear.

But looks like my sugaring days are numbered.

[NhShaun]

This is too close to ashburnham where my trees are located!! Kind of scary.

[Maplesedge]

Spoke with the USDA. No ALB in Leicester yet. Current news here: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis/home?1dmy&urile=wcm%3Apath%3A/aphis_content_library/sa_newsroom/sa_news/sa_by_date/sa_2014/sa_03/ct_alb_worcester

"Currently, there are 110 square miles under regulation in Worcester County, which includes all of the city of Worcester, West Boylston, Boylston, Shrewsbury and a portion of the towns of Holden and Auburn."

I'm told they'll continue surveying, and any found host trees will be removed. They worry about spread from prior years, if people took wood from here camping or something, so it's good to be familiar with what they look like.

[Maplesedge]

Update: More extensive coverage of survey traps all around me this year. No news on spread as yet.