Imports are a beautiful thing. Except when they’re an invasive species like the Emerald Ash Borer. I found one stone-cold chilling on my sidewalk last week. It was gorgeous to behold. The luminescent green of its exoskeleton is almost unbelievable. I guess they’re hard to lay eyes on as they are elusive. Their wake however isn’t. Since their accidental introduction to North America the Ash Borer has left a path of destruction. It travels on the wind and devours ash trees in its spare time. As you guessed, it bores into the tree, lays eggs and leaves. The babies feed off the inside of the tree from the top down. Child abandonment and dead trees. Marvelous.
I identified 4 ash trees in my yard after a quick walk through and a little help from Google Images. Funny how you don’t pay attention to certain things until you realize they might not be around much longer. Cliche? Yes. True? Yes.
I looked up what I thought was the borer to make sure it wasn’t a fancy fly. Then I looked up the tree to make sure I wasn’t mistaken. Then I called my wife’s cousin Jimmy. This guy knows his trees and has a good friend who’s in the business. Jimmy let me know it’s pretty much a death sentence (which I had heard) unless you get the trees treated. If you don’t you can enjoy removing their carcasses in a couple of years, an even heftier expense. Turns out his buddy, Billy, does this so I give him a ring to see about this treatment. I learn to prevent a beetle from boring into your tree they bore a hole in your tree and then hook up something resembling an IV. The tree draws the chemicals up its vascular system. Pretty sophisticated stuff.
Billy sends his partner, Jake, out to walk the property, identify the trees and give me a quote. Jake shows up and immediately I like him. He’s the right dose of friendly and he looks like a guy who knows how to save some trees. I’ll like him even more in a few minutes. As I point out the trees he begins to inspect them. They’re ash trees alright. A little piece of me was nervous I had mistaken them and was going to look foolish when he showed up. I tell this to Jake and he tells me back that isn’t uncommon with ash trees. He says, “They look almost identical to the pignut hickory.”
As we move from tree to tree he says, “You know, I don’t think these are ash.” He begins looking closer and he notices a couple minor details that separate the two species, branch pattern and fruit shape. Looks like I don’t have ash trees after all.
I could have sworn I did though. Especially with the siting of the borer. That turns out to be a coincidence.
The moral?
Sometimes you think you’re dealing with an ash. You might even have “evidence” that you interpret as being proof of there being an ash. But you aren’t dealing with an ash. You’re dealing with something that looks like an ash from a distance. Be careful you don’t treat it like an ash or you might pay a price you needn’t.
Here’s to the pignut hickory, today’s silent hero.
I’m sorry I almost treated you like an ash.
(Thanks to Jake, too. I wouldn’t have known the difference.)
