News
Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis)
by Arboretum Manager, Ric Jordan
The Emerald Ash Borer, a highly destructive insect that targets and kills exclusively ash trees (Fraxinus sp.), has been positively found and identified on the southern outskirts of Guelph, only a few kilometers from the University of Guelph Arboretum.
The insect was introduced from Asia, and is believed to have first come to the U.S. in a shipment of untreated wooden pallet boxes from China. Since it was spotted in 2002, it has spread rapidly, killing millions of ash trees in the U.S. and Canada. In Windsor, where it was first found in Canada, essentially all ash species but one are dead with the exception of young saplings. The one species that seems to have some form of resistance to the insect is Blue Ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata ) for reasons not clearly understood at present. Read More...