Today two green trucks roared into our neighborhood, one towing a huge crane and one towing a beefy chipper. Our neighbor two doors to the north had harbored dead ash trees behind his house for a few years, victims of the emerald ash borer, and a month or two ago his luck ran out. An ash around which his deck had been built toppled and dented his roof; fortunately, it didn't have enough momentum to crash into the attic. Major parts from other ashes were either on his roof or suspended above it by means of branches entangled with other dead ashes.
A basic cleanup of the damage had been done, but the skeletons of several ashes still loomed, menacing, over the house. Today was tree removal day, big time.
The crane fit between the afflicted home and the one north.
Tree trunks began to come down in segments.
Here, the top of the second tree to be removed has been hoisted over the house, and is swinging towards the chipper.
Feeding into the chipper, with the cooperation of the crane. Partway through the branches will be cut off with a chainsaw.
Here is a video clip of some of the proceedings; there are two parts separated by a brief fade-out.
Wow! I'm glad I wasn't in the house next door.
We live in a neighborhood where the effects of the emerald ash borer are clearly hitting home this year. This Asian insect was first discovered in North America near Detroit in the summer of 2002, likely a hitchhiker in wooden pallets or packing materials. By now it has spread to a considerable portion of the United States.
Here is a photo of the borer, courtesy of Wikipedia Commons. Small but deadly.
It took the borer a few years to arrive in central Ohio, and death takes three to five years of larvae munching on the inner bark of ash trees, but this is the time, this is the year that the die-off in our neighborhood has taken hold. Here a photo with an ash tree and another type of tree, taken on June 3rd.
When the entire ash tree is visible, the result can be stark.
While some are completely dead, some are hanging on but sickly and doomed.
This one has one small leader still alive. The old squirrel nest is exposed.
Some houses have an entire row of dead or dying trees looming above them.
The various arborists and tree-trimming outfits have already been busy this year.
Sometimes the ash will develop bleached bark or will shed bark.
We had three of our ash trees, the ones close to the house, treated in the fall of 2010 with injections of emamectin benzoate, with a repeat treatment every other year. So far they are still thriving. Our fingers are crossed.
