Homeowners Guide to EAB Insecticide Selection, Use and Environmental Impact

Good morning –

The Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association is disseminating a GREAT publication from the MN Dept of Ag about Emerald Ash Borer treatments and their environmental impacts.

It explains when treatments should be done and which are more likely to affect groundwater and aquatic life. Be sure to read this before you do any EAB treatments.

Click on the photo to the right or the link below to download.

Homeowners Guide to EAB Insecticide Selection, Use and Environmental Impact

Have a great day!

Brad

Iowa’s First

Good morning –

After a beautiful weekend in Minnesota – 75 degrees, sunny and a nice breeze – I’ll bring you back to earth today with another Emerald Ash Borer infestation reported. This one is Iowa’s first and actually doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

EAB was first reported in 2009 in Minnesota with a large infestation near Victory, WI near the Minnesota and Iowa borders. An infestation has recently been discovered in Houston County Minnesota just across the state line from the Victory site so it is very expected that an Iowa infestation would be found.

EAB Trap (photo from city of Roseville)

You’ll see purple traps throughout Iowa and Minnesota this summer looking for more sites where EAB has invaded to attempt to limit the spread of this nasty bug.

Click here to see all the information we have posted about Emerald Ash Borer.

Have a great day!

Brad

Slow Trees

Good morning –

How have you been? I hope all is great! It has been a busy busy busy spring. Got an early start and everything is rolling!

Each year there are some plant materials that don’t react really well to some event – known or unknown – during the winter. The past few years spirea and evergreens were hard-hit. This seems to be the year of the maple.

We have quite a few maple trees throughout our sites that are very slow to get moving this spring. They are leafing out and I’m confident they will be ok, but property managers need to be sure to not be too quick to write them off. Be sure to also pay special attention to them throughout the growing season to watch for long-term problems that may be evident.

Have a great day!

Brad

Visit the MN Arboretum this Week

Yesterday was a bit cool and windy but that weather was easily trumped by the beautiful trees, bulbs and perennials that are in bloom at the MN Arboretum right now. The Minnesota Arboretum (or Artabreedum as Jean insisted) is a great place for Property Managers to discover plants they might want to incorporate in their landscapes or just leave that to me and enjoy the beautiful walk. Here are some pictures from yesterday:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

You can check out all of our photos on flickr.com/quercusinc.

Have a great day!

Brad

Oak Wilt Risk Status: HIGH

Good morning!

Oak Wilt - Photo from City of Andover, MN

Each year, we experience a major threat to the beautiful oak trees of our state. This is the time of year when the fungus responsible for Oak Wilt is active.

Property Managers: Do not prune, cut or injure your oak trees April through June and prune only when necessary July through August.

The Oak Wilt fungus (Ceratocystis fagacearum) basically gums up the system of oak trees causing severe dieback and death in many oaks each year. April-June is generally it’s active season and spreads through the air and along with insects traveling from tree to tree and is less active July – September.

Here is great information about oak wilt from Iowa State University and

Emerald Ash Borer Confirmed in Minneapolis

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has confirmed an infestation in the Prospect Park East River Road neighborhood of Minneapolis within Tower Hill Park.

We knew Emerald Ash Borer would have spread from the St Paul site and this is within miles of the first-located infestation.

I’ll post more tomorrow. Here is the MDA release.

Have a great night!

Brad

Sustainability Commissions

Good afternoon!

Fall at the Minnesota Arboretum

I ran into this post on Conservation Minnesota earlier today and it really stuck with me. Many cities throughout the country are starting Sustainability Commissions to evaluate and promote sustainable practices through their towns. This is a great idea!

http://www.conservationminnesota.org/news/?subsec=205&id=4181

We at Quercus evaluate our processes and procedures on an ongoing basis to be sure we are working in the most sustainable and responsible manner.

Have a great day!

Brad

MinnPost – Boreal forest and curbing climate change

I thought this was very interesting.

MinnPost – Boreal forest and curbing climate change.