Treeazin for emerald ash borer

[DonT]

Trreazin is a chemical being used for emerald ash borer in Canada.It has been approved for use in Canada by the Canadian food inspection agency,and has recieved favourable results in a number of Ontario urban centres.It is pricey and probably cost prohibitve in a woodlot enviorment but in the urban enviorment where only a couple of trees are being treasted it is reasonable.Cost is approximately 130.00 per 25cm(12inches)DBH.I am looking at adding this to my services any feedback from members would be greatly appreciated.It does require a chemical applicators license.

[SwampDonkey]

A buddy of mine up in the Soo, could maybe give some info. He's a member here, works with the Forestry Centre there, but doesn't come online much now.

[SwampDonkey]

Don, here's what the man says.  ;)

Its made from neem, which is a natural product. it is injected into the base of the tree and works systemically. He thinks it is both a contact and ingested toxin. It does not prevent attacks, per se, other than perhaps dissuading adults from laying eggs on trees because it tastes bad. If eggs are laid in the tree, the larvae will hatch and feed awhile to about the 2nd instar, after which point they seem to either die or stop developing and eventually die.

[DonT]

My understanding is that when female beatles ingest it 95% of there eggs do not hatch and as you say it seems to eventually kill most of the larvae.I am looking at about a $3000.00 start up cost and trying to do some market research to see if it is viable.Its not something i think you are going to get rich doing,but it might fill in some gaps.

[beenthere]

Do you need to carry liability insurance for the times a treatment doesn't work?

[DonT]

Good question.Short answer is no.I guess i would use the analogy of over the counter cold medication,yes it can be effective but is not guarented to work all the time.Treeazin has been approved as I mentioned by the Canadian food inspection agency and they can be very slow to grant approval.My worries are that i do not want to be seen as a snakeoil salesman selling and applying something that will not work.Still doing a lot of research myself.i think the market here is for residential trees of high value,where every attempt is made before the tree is removed.Davey tree is using it in Ottawa.

[Jeff]

Davey is big enough that if their applications fail, that it most likely would not be the demise of the company.  Can you say that? This is still an experimental treatment that no one knows if it will succeed over a longer term. I'm just saying that if you were to start offering this and most of your customers trees died anyhow, or even part of them, the word of mouth would probably be "He took me".

[DonT]

Excellent feedback Jeff,those are questions that i have asked myself.The other question is what type of clientelle would this service attract and would it be economically feasable.I am in the process of contacting a number of cities with there own forestry departments to see if they are using it.A target market would be municipalities that contract out there work.I am also waiting for a response from the canadian food inspection agency who gave it approval.I know many of my clients are receptive to the idea,there feeling is that if they can avoid a removal in there yards then they are willing to try it.I think a very upfront approach would be required here detailing the treatments succeses and failures.The city of Oakville is a very large supporter.Davey as you suggest can absorb the loss if this proves to be ineffective,but at the same time they are also usually on the leading edge of development of new products.I am open to all pro's and con's at this point to look at this from as many differant angles as possible.As I mentioned this would be one more service to offer and I feel diversifacation is good as long as all things are being done properly.

[SwampDonkey]

Depends on location. It may work in Oakville, because of incomes. Out east here in New Brunswick a person would have a very small market. About the only tree protection program you here of are the elms in Fredericton, done by their own city forester and staff. When you look at sugar maple around here, people let them stand until the last leaf withers and 80% of the tree top is missing. :D

[forest keeper]

Does any body know if this stuff is also labeled or even works for Pine Bark Beetles? I've been doing tree spraying  on Cape Cod, MA for awhile now and the Pine beetles are becoming one of our biggest problems. I'd really like some alternatives to what we've been using.
We don't have a whole lot of Ash down here on the Cape, so I'm not sure we'll ever see the EAB in these parts. The Asian Long Horned, however is just around the corner from us. We've done quite a bit of APHIS sanctioned tree removals over in Worchester in the past few years.

[DonT]

I know when i talked to the people at Bio-forests they where  doing ongoing testing for treeazin's use against other pests.You could contact them.I just heard back from the city of Ottawa they have used this product on 500 tree's and are pleased with the results.They also recomend it to any of there ratepayers that inquire about treatment options.