Control and Management

Management tools are critically-needed to help suppress populations, contain infestations, and protect ash trees from EAB.   Research is being conducted to evaluate the use of insecticides to reduce EAB populations and protect high-value urban and shade trees.  Explorations were conducted in Michigan and China for natural enemies and pathogens that may have potential for biological control. Laboratory and field studies are being conducted to evaluate the efficacy and specificity of Chinese parasitoids against EAB.  Biological control and control with pathogens or microbial insecticides may have potential for suppressing populations of EABin woodlots and natural areas.  Regulatory control treatments including chipping, debarking, heat, vacuum, or microwave treatment, and firewood handling recommendations are also being evaluated.  Research is also underway to understand resistance mechanisms of Asian ash species and develop hybrids to introgress resistance from Asian species into North America ash species.

Selected Research Studies

• Ash seed collection
• Evaluation of systemic insecticides to control emerald ash borer
• Debarking high-value logs
• Bark applied chemicals to control EAB
• Chipping and heat treatment to control emerald ash borer
• Colonization of ash stumps
• Survival in firewood
• Regulatory treatment of firewood
• Biological Control - Natural enemies
• EAB Resistant Ash
• Lingering Ash
• Novel Ash Hybrids
• Overcoming Obstacles to Interspecies Hybridization of Ash