Local specialist: Look out for ash borer in Grundy County

GRUNDY COUNTY - The emerald ash borer has found its way to Grundy County in the last few years, and according to local treatment specialist Don Anderson of Wellsburg, it’s going to be back and reaching further in 2020.

The ash borer was discovered in Reinbeck and Dike last year, and now, it’s just north of Grundy Center.

“It won’t take long. It will be here, also,” he said. “Prevention is the best course of action.”

He also warns that ground treatments are only about 60 percent effective and recommends the ArborJet system, which can also work as a prevention method for healthy trees and directly injects the necessary chemicals into the trunks of infected trees.

“I think everybody understands that (ash borer) is going to kill (trees), there’s no question about that,” he said. “The biggest misconception is that ground treatments are effective.”

Anderson doesn’t have a formal estimate on how many trees the ash borer has killed in Grundy County thus far, but he predicts that it will happen soon without proper preparation. The bug has been detected in all of the surrounding counties as well.

He also warns of the bur oak blight and oak leaf wilt, which weaken these trees and are being found in surrounding counties, making their way to Grundy County in the near future. These conditions weaken those trees and allow the two-line chestnut borer to become a significant factor in their demise. As Anderson notes, preserving trees is important for overall quality of life and energy costs.