fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Submit Your Event
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Send Letter to the Editor
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Seamon Park ash trees treated to kill ash borer

by Robert Ford
April 13, 2016
in Politics & Government
2
Vern Rist and Josh Van Loan hook up a spider web of hoses that bring the pesticide into the tree. (photo by Robert Ford)
Vern Rist and Josh Van Loan hook up a spider web of hoses that bring the pesticide into the tree. (photo by Robert Ford)

It all began at a commercial campground on Rt. 32 several years ago when infested firewood was brought in from out of state by an unsuspecting camper. In the ensuing years, it has spread out over most of Ulster County and made the jump across the Hudson River into Dutchess County. And while there’s no cost-effective way to save most trees from the invasive emerald ash borer, many towns (and homeowners) are choosing to inoculate prized ash trees against the scourge of their wild cousins.

“This infestation is on par with Dutch elm disease and the chestnut blight,” said arborist Vern Rist as he administered a dose of pesticide to an ash tree at Seamon Park May 22.

Saugerties-based Rist, owner of a company called Healthy Plants, was hired by the village to treat four ash trees at the verdant Rt. 9W park at a total cost of $1,020. The trees were already infested, but this should kill the ash borer larvae. Another treatment will be needed in two or three years.

The Seamon Park trees are the first the village has decided to treat. Five other village ash trees have been cut down and burned. A tree survey is planned for this year, which will determine how many ash trees the village has and which are infected.

It’s the larvae of the beetles that kills the trees, Rist explained. The beetles lay their eggs under the bark of the tree, and when in the larvae stage they devour the tender wood and destroy the tree’s circulation system.

Much like the human body, a tree has a circulation system, which brings in water and nutrients from the ground through the root system and distribute it throughout the tree. If that system is destroyed by the larvae, the tree dies.

So, to continue the human body metaphor, the arborist drills holes in the base of the tree, much like a doctor sticking a needle in the arm of a sick patient. Into each of the holes, Rist and his assistant Josh Van Loan insert a needle that leads to a tube and then into a bottle, much like an IV in a sick patient. The bottle, which contains a pesticide, is pressurized, so when applied the pressure causes the substance to flow into the tree where it is spread throughout the circulatory system, killing the larvae.

Tags: emerald ash borer
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher

Robert Ford

Related Posts

Community discussion begins on New Paltz policing
Politics & Government

New Paltz police tension

July 8, 2025
Police departments, rescue squads reorganize for socially distanced first response
Politics & Government

Eminent-domain powers tested in appellate court

July 3, 2025
Words aplenty fly in Woodstock primary
Politics & Government

Likely new Wooodstock town supervisor sweeps Democratic primary

July 2, 2025
Korolkoff-Nagele recount
Politics & Government

Korolkoff-Nagele recount

June 26, 2025
Is the New Paltz supervisor race finished?
Politics & Government

Is the New Paltz supervisor race finished?

June 25, 2025
Letters to the editor: September 11, 2024 (Winston Farm, Shady dump, hostages and more)
Politics & Government

Public concerns outweigh support for Winston Farm proposal

June 25, 2025
Next Post

Freedom of movement

Please login to join discussion

Weather

Kingston, NY
73°
Mostly Cloudy
5:27 am8:34 pm EDT
Feels like: 73°F
Wind: 2mph NNE
Humidity: 89%
Pressure: 29.98"Hg
UV index: 0
WedThuFri
86°F / 70°F
82°F / 68°F
86°F / 68°F
powered by Weather Atlas

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Art
    • Books
    • Kids
    • Lifestyle & Wellness
    • Food & Drink
    • Music
    • Nature
    • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
    • Hey Kingston
    • New Paltz Times
    • Woodstock Times
    • Week in Review

© 2022 Ulster Publishing