The emerald ash borer, a killer, invisible and invasive insect

The word 'borer' has been giving us chills for the past ten years or so, with the disappearance, especially visible in urban areas, of tens of thousands of specimens of ash trees.
As mentioned by the Canadian Food Agency, the emerald ash borer is an extremely destructive invasive beetle that attacks and kills all species of ash trees.

A beetle is an insect and the emerald ash borer is a member of the Buprestidae family. This is called a boring insect whose adult female lays her eggs on the bark. The larvae, in order to develop, will then penetrate the bark to the living cells of the tree and those full of sugars to feed there. Agrilus planipennis is a species native to Asia and eastern Russia and has only recently been introduced to North America in the temperate zone.

What is going on anyway? The insect ravages the living tissues of the tree on the periphery and in fact even destroys the vascular vessels there. These are the 'veins' that supply the tree with water and minerals. No water, no life. The tree dies quite quickly.

Does it become a potential danger? Yes. Its dieback will cause a weakening of the anchorage of its branches, and then possibly of its main trunk.

What can I do? By the time the anomalies are visible and obvious to the owner, it is usually already too late. All ash trees in areas defined by the Canadian Food Agency should be inspected by an arboriculturist. An insecticide can be a preventive solution. The presence of trees with low foliage density with dead branches or dead bark detached from the trunk or branches, as well as the presence of tiny holes in the wood in the shape of the letter D, the rounded part downwards, are anomalies potentially indicative of the presence of the insect. Are my other trees at risk? For the moment, the insect's nutritional diet stops at ash trees.

Give your ash trees the opportunity to develop in a healthy environment in soil that is rich in amendments and well aerated and does not predispose it to the weakening of its health.