We’re moving our blog to our website

We’re moving our blog on over to our website, seacoasttreecare.com. We will still be sharing the latest news in the world of tree preservation, insect and disease management, and anything else related to the wonder of trees! Click on over to read from the best seacoast arborists on a variety of topics.

And the I.S.A. Certified Arborist Credential Goes To...

It's our pleasure to announce... No. It gives us great pleasure to announce... Ah, what the heck: We are over the moon to announce that our very own Matt Renard earned the International Society of Arboriculture (I.S.A.) Certified Arborist credential! But don't take our word for it. See the official press release here.

Congratulations Matt!!

Emerald Ash Borer Found in Salem, New Hampshire—Quarantine expanding and public meeting announced for October 9 in Brentwood

I received the following alert yesterday. It came directly from Karen Bennett. She is the Extension Forestry Professor & Specialist for the UNH Cooperative Extension. This pest is already under quarantine in many areas of the state but this quarantine is expanding. Unfortunately, unless this message is propagated quickly throughout the affected areas, the quarantine will be ineffective. Please pass this along and help to save one of the areas truly great treasures.

The following is the email communication I received:

Emerald Ash Borer Found in Salem, New Hampshire—Quarantine expanding and public meeting announced for October 9 in Brentwood

Emerald ash borer was found in Salem, New Hampshire in the green traps deployed by the N.H. Division of Forests and Lands. This find means the quarantine will expand from Merrimack County into Rockingham County and also the part of Hillsborough County east of Route 3 and the Route 293 loop around Manchester—including those highways. This includes all or portions of the Hillsborough County towns of Pelham, Hudson, Nashua, Litchfield, Merrimack, Bedford, and Manchester. The new boundaries of the quarantine will go into effect on October 9.

The State is holding a public informational meeting about EAB and the quarantine on October 9 from 4 to 6 PM at the Hilton Auditorium at the Rockingham County Nursing Home on William Sturtevant Way off North Road in Brentwood (directions). At the meeting, representatives from the N.H. Dept. of Agriculture, Markets & Food and the N.H. Dept. of Resources and Economic Development Division of Forests and Lands will describe the emerald ash borer’s threat and the purpose and provisions of the quarantine.

Concerned citizens, homeowners who have ash trees on their properties, community leaders, members of the forestry and “green” industries, and those concerned about the health of New Hampshire’s trees and forests are encouraged to attend. To learn more about emerald ash borer, including treatment recommendations, or to report a suspect tree or insect, go to www.nhbugs.org.

Workshops—click on underlined titles to access more information and to learn how to register

NHBugs: The Big Three informs New Hampshire citizens and visitors about three invasive insects of greatest concern to our trees and forests: emerald ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid and Asian longhorned beetle. This presentation includes information about the life cycles, identifying signs and symptoms of infestations, and management techniques for each pest.

• Wednesday, September 24, 2014, 7-8 p.m.
  Squam Lakes Association, Holderness, NH

NH Firewood Update- Keep Up to Date with Changes in the Firewood Industry
This workshop provides an opportunity for firewood dealers to learn the latest information about wood science, buying and selling firewood, forest pests and firewood quarantines. Speakers will include: Kyle Lombard, of the NH Division of Forest and Lands; Piera Siegert, Jeff Wentworth and Dennis Marquis of the NH Department of Agriculture; and Sarah Smith and Tim Fleury from UNH Cooperative Extension.

• Thursday, September 25, 2014, 1-4 p.m.
  Merrimack County UNH Cooperative Extension Office, Boscawen, NH

Emerald Ash Borer & Conservation Easements
Learn how to identify emerald ash borer (EAB) and how you can respond. This workshop is  for owners of conserved lands and easement monitors. Participants will observe EAB in the field, learn to identify ash trees, learn what can be done to help and discuss what quarantine might mean for you.

• Thursday, September 25, 2014, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
  Conservation Center, Concord, NH

Emerald Ash Borer and Other Causes of Tree Decline
This year, many trees have shown noticeable signs of decline including browning leaves, dying branches, and loss of needles. UNH Cooperative Extension’s, Amy Papineau will discuss some of the many insects and diseases that are causing stress and decline in our trees. Special attention will be given to EAB. Come learn what to look for and what to do when your trees look "sick."

• Monday, October 6, 2014, 6:30-8 p.m.
  Boscawen Municipal Complex, Boscawen, NH

Pesticides for Safeguarding Ash Trees Against Emerald Ash Borer
This workshop for arborists and other tree care professionals will review the emerald ash borer life cycle and spread, signs and symptoms, New Hampshire’s recommendations for treating individual trees to protect against infestation and recommendations to treat an existing infestation. Regulations will be covered including quarantines, compliance agreements, pesticide use, and wetland setbacks. Precautionary safety measures while applying pesticides will be reviewed. Products and equipment will be demonstrated outside by industry representatives.

• Thursday, October 30, 2014, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
  Society for the Protection of NH Forests, Concord, NH

Karen P. Bennett, Extension Forestry Professor & Specialist           
UNH Cooperative Extension   
212 Nesmith Hall, 131 Main St., Durham, NH 03824
(603)862-4861, (603)312-6695 cell, (603)862-0107 fax
karen.bennett@unh.edu

www.goodforestry.org and  www.nhwoods.org and www.nhbugs.org 

Update: The Emerald Ash Borer is Moving Closer to the Seacoast

This is the latest article scheduled to publish in our seacoastonline.com column titled Taking Root. Because this information is so important to our community I felt it best not to wait. Please take a moment to find out how you can help protect our seacoast. I can be reached at 603.431.0101 or contacted through our company website at www.seacoasttreecare.com

Emerald Ash Borer Moves Closer to the Seacoast

Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), the invasive beetle that is killing ash trees in the US at an alarming rate, has been detected in North Andover, MA. That’s just 3 miles from the NH border, and 30 miles from Portsmouth. As a result, Essex County, MA has placed a quarantine on the transportation of firewood and untreated lumber. EAB was detected in Concord, NH in 2013 and a similar quarantine is in effect for Merrimack County. If we want to save our ash trees, it’s time to start treating ash trees on the Seacoast.

The discovery of EAB in North Andover was lucky, and it shows how we can all help keep an eye out for the spread of this pest. Matthew Mountzuris noticed a stand of trees with dead canopies and increased woodpecker activity and called the Department of Conservation and Recreation in Massachusetts. Turns out they were all white ash, and all infected.

Here’s what you can do:

Burn It Where You Buy It: If you only take one thing away from this article, it should be this: Don’t transport firewood! If you’re going camping, or know anyone who is, tell them not to bring their own firewood but buy it locally at the campsite. Experts agree that the transportation of firewood can move invasive pests hundreds of miles and is one of the biggest threats to our ash trees. (And if you do buy firewood at the campsite don’t bring any back with you.) If you buy firewood to heat your home, ensure it is locally sourced (and preferably kiln dried).

Identification and Inspection: If you don’t how to identify an ash tree, go to www.nhbugs.org. This site is the best resource for current information on EAB in New Hampshire. The site has great information and links on how to identify ash trees and how to inspect your trees for infestation. Learn what signs and symptoms to look for, and inspect your property thoroughly. If you find signs of infestation, you can submit a report at the NH Bugs site. If you see trees this spring that have dead or dying canopies, that’s a great indication of a potential problem.

Spread the Word (and Keep Yourself Informed): Tell your neighbors and friends who own property with ash trees about the EAB. Stay current on the latest news, treatment options and the spread of the infestation. As the experts learn more about what works and what doesn’t treatments are changing and evolving. The  United States Department of Agriculture has a great site at http://stopthebeetle.info which has a wealth of information to keep you up to date, as well as some fun projects that will help your kids learn about the EAB, too.

Treatment: Best treatment options for EAB is surrounded by debate and conjecture, and is best left to professionals who have kept current the latest research. The Seacoast, and the Great Bay in particular, are extremely sensitive areas and misuse of insecticides can kill wildlife and endanger our ecosystem. Initial intensive studies by Michigan State University have shown trunk injection treatments with emamectin benzoate to be up to 99% effective and last as long as 3 years, so there is hope. There are also ongoing studies of non-stinging parasitic wasps that are a natural predator, and these show great promise.

The Emerald Ash Borer has already killed millions of trees, and the spread has continued every year since it was first discovered in Michigan in 2002. Let’s all make it a priority to protect our region against the spread of the EAB. In turn, we’ll be protecting our forests, our Seacoast, our campsites, our fishing holes, and our neighborhoods. Help keep yourself up to date with some of these online resources:

www.nhbugs.org
www.stopthebeetle.info
www.emeraldashborer.info

Meet the Seacoast Tree Care Crew

You may have heard us say "trees are treasures." It is not simply a slogan -- it's our constitution, and we run our business based on this belief. We hope you'll enjoy our short video that helps define the essence of what we really mean when we say "Trees are treasures. And we're their guardians."

Get Ready for Spring by Winterizing Your Landscape

Go ahead, pat yourself on the back, your efforts have paid off. Your property looked gorgeous this summer and the Joneses struggled to keep up. Time for some much needed rest, right? Wrong. Your landscape needs you more than ever to help it through the long months ahead. We've assembled a number of things you can do to ensure next summer your landscape is healthy and full of color. Check out our latest column published by Seacoast Media Group Titled: As winter nears, time to put your yard to bed

We Have A Winner!

Our "Save A Tree" promotion to lure folks away from our informative and beautiful (but tree-abusing) mailer has come to an end. We added a good number of new names to our e-mail list, and by random selection (drumroll, please...): PAUL FUREY! Congrats to Paul, he'll soon be receiving a $50 gift card for his effort.

We want to welcome everyone who signed up, you're all winners in our book (even though only Paul's getting the gift card this round). We're already working on another batch of arboreal articles for the e-news blast to keep you up to date on all the latest tips and tricks from the treetops! The contest may be over, but if you haven't registered to receive our e-newsletter directly in your inbox, you are certainly still invited to. 

Click here to sign up now!

The Latest Emerald Ash Borer Update: 4 Things You Can Do to Help

It's likely you've heard the news: The emerald ash borer (EAB), an invasive pest from Asia that has killed tens of millions of trees in the eastern United States and Canada, has been found in Concord. What can you do to help? We invite you to read our latest column published by Seacoast Media Group Titled: Emerald ash borer poses threat to N.H. trees

Courtesy of the University of Georgia

As we learn more about this potential threat to the seacoast, we'll keep you updated.

What on Earth Is the Emerald Ash Borer and Why Should I Care

 (image taken from The National Park Service)

What on Earth is the Emerald Ash Borer and why should I care? This really is two separate questions, so I'll take them one at a time.

About the EAB: The emerald ash borer was discovered in southeast Michigan in 2002. Some estimates put the the number of ash trees killed as high as 100 million. It's a green beetle native to Asia - big deal right? But it's also an invasive beetle that attacks and kills ash trees. Voraciously.

This little bugger has been spotted in Concord NH and an emergency quarantine has been put in place in Merrimack County banning all species of ash (including wood chips, firewood and the like) from traveling outside the county limits.

Currently, 2 meetings are scheduled for May 2, and include the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food, the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development’s Division of Forests and Lands, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA APHIS PPQ), the U.S. Forest Service, and yours truly, Dan Mello. The state and the country are taking the spread of this pest very seriously and so are we. We are attending to learn as much as we can, not only to take a proactive approach, but to help keep the community informed in order to solicit their help, if and when it becomes necessary.

Why Should I Care? It may seem that the loss of ash trees may not affect you, especially if you don't have any on your property. But this invasion affects everyone: The excerpt below was taken from a recent study by the US Forest Service http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/news/2013/01/tree-human-health.shtml.
In an analysis of 18 years of data from 1,296 counties in 15 states, researchers found that Americans living in areas infested by the emerald ash borer, a beetle that kills ash trees, suffered from an additional 15,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 6,000 more deaths from lower respiratory disease when compared to uninfected areas. When emerald ash borer comes into a community, city streets lined with ash trees become treeless.

As we learn more about this potential threat to the seacoast, we'll keep you updated. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the insect, as well as our next Taking Root article published by seacoastonline.com.

How to Select the Right Tree for Your Yard

If you're thinking of adding new trees to your landscape, now is the time. The best season to plant is in the spring before the buds appear. This is not a decision to take lightly. Take a little time before you get started to learn how to choose the right type of tree and location for your project, as well as proper planting procedures. We invite you to read the latest article in our Taking Root series titled The Time is Right for Planting Trees.

Spring Tree Care Tips

Now that winter is waning and spring is upon us, we begin to think about our annual spring cleanup. The days are getting longer and warmer and we are spending more time outside. It becomes easier to see the tree damage winter brings. Before you go grabbing Dad’s old chainsaw for some tree service, take a moment and read the following tips.

• First things first: If you find any downed power lines, steer clear and notify the power company immediately! (I know everyone knows this, it’s like the scissor running thing, but I felt compelled to say it anyway...).
• Do not use a chainsaw simply because you have one. Although they are extremely useful tools, they are also extremely dangerous. If you haven’t been trained, or are not familiar with it, ask someone for help (there is no shame in it) or use a handsaw. 
• If your going to remove a tree or large limb, be sure there are no power lines, property, or people that may interfere (not including your mother-in-law) with its safe removal.
• If you have to leave the ground to make the cut, and are not properly trained... STOP! Call a professional.
• Take the time and assess the situation. Imagine the worst case scenario. What would happen? What would you do? Are you alone? Did you leave yourself an "out"? 

We all want our property to look good (or at least slightly better than our neighbors). Trees are beautiful miracles of nature. They provide us with beauty, protection, and lots of leaves to rake in the fall. If you have any doubts regarding safety, consider hiring a professional. Your family wants you around and so do we. Besides, trees are much more enjoyable from above the soil line...

Taking Root

We have been given the opportunity by Seacoast Media Group to publish a monthly column we named Taking Root. The goal of this column is to help our community understand the importance of our natural landscape in the Seacoast, and moreover, give readers valuable guidance and information they can implement daily to make their property a healthier, more enjoyable place. When we all do what’s best for our personal landscape, the community as a whole benefits. We invite you to read our latest column titled "Trees can help raise your property value".

Seacoast Tree Care Gains Tree Care Industry Accreditation

Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

Sorry about that but we are a proud group today at Seacoast Tree Care! We recently gained accreditation under the Tree Care Industry Accreditation program. Below is an excerpt from a recent press release:

Stratham, NH (PRWEB) February 28, 2013

Seacoast Tree Care, after an extensive review by the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA), has gained accreditation under the Tree Care Industry Accreditation program. TCIA Accreditation means Seacoast Tree Care adheres to all the accreditation standards and has undergone a rigorous application process. TCIA verified this by conducting an on-site audit of Seacoast Tree Care facilities and tree service work sites.
Under the accreditation process, businesses undergo extensive review of professional practices aimed at safeguarding consumers. The review includes:
► best business practices
► ethical business conduct
► formal training and certification of employees
► compliance with industry standards
► consumer satisfaction
► adherence to safety standards
► insurance coverage

You can read the entire article here.

ALERT! Winter Moth Spreads North To Maine

Winter Moth Caterpillar

Don't look now, but the infamous winter moth has officially debuted in Maine. Confirmed in the Cumberland county town of Harpswell last month, the moth now contaminates a 400 acre stretch. Stopping the winter moth outbreak is a code red mission for scientists, forest services, and you. This moth lays eggs that hatch into binge-eating caterpillars, devouring the leaves of any and all vegetation including oaks, cedars, even blueberry bushes. Have you seen trees with leaves like swiss cheese? Well, that could be the winter moth. A species native to Europe, the moth was found in Nova Scotia in the 1950s, and has since invaded tens of thousands of acres in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Maine is just the latest of our New England states to be hit.

We at Seacoast Tree Care would attack a winter moth problem by:

• Applying environmentally safe dormant oil sprays to unhatched eggs

• Hitting newly hatched caterpillars with bacteriums

• Using safe & powerful insecticides

• Tree banding for smaller infestations

In the meantime, you can help fight this common enemy of New England trees and wildlife. The sooner you recognize them the sooner they'll be stopped. If you catch these intruders hiding in your neighbor's trees, your state forest service or local tree service company should be called right away.

The Culprit: Moths are small and tan/light brown, with a series of hashmarks on their wings, although females are wingless. The caterpillars are green, with white or pale lines on their sides and one dark line on top.

Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Threatens Hemlock Trees Throughtout MA, NH and ME as it Moves Northward

It's here.
More than half of the properties with hemlocks that we look at have adelgid on them. I was recently in the Newburyport, MA area, and a majority of trees I saw had signs of infestation. This is a very destructive pest that can kill trees in 3-6 years. If you have hemlocks on your property please call us. There are a number of different treatment options available some providing 5 years of coverage.

This is a pest that affects us all, and must be treated before we lose an irreplaceable resource.

Please visit our site for more information on our tree service and preservation in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

The information below is courtesy of the USDA and the Forest Service:

	United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry NA-PR-09-05 August 2005

FIGURE 1.—Hemlock woolly adelgid ovisacs. Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Native to Asia, the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) is a small, aphidlike insect that threatens the health and sustainability of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and Carolina hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana) in the Eastern United States. Hemlock woolly adelgid was fi rst reported in the Eastern United States in 1951 near Richmond, Virginia. By 2005, it was established in portions of 16 States from Maine to Georgia, where infestations covered about half of the range of hemlock. Areas of extensive tree mortality and decline are found throughout the infested region, but the impact has been most severe in some areas of Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Hemlock decline and mortality typically occur within 4 to 10 years of infestation in the insect’s northern range, but can occur in as little as 3 to 6 years in its southern range. Other hemlock stressors, including drought, poor site conditions, and insect and disease pests such as elongate hemlock scale (Fiorinia externa), hemlock looper (Lambdina fiscellaria fiscellaria), spruce spider mite (Oligonychus ununguis), hemlock borer (Melanophila fulvogutta), root rot disease (Armillaria mellea), and needlerust (Melampsora parlowii), accelerate the rate and extent of hemlock mortality. Hosts The hemlock woolly adelgid develops and reproduces on all species of hemlock, but only eastern and Carolina hemlock are vulnerable when attacked. The range of eastern hemlock stretches from Nova Scotia to northern Alabama and west to northeastern Minnesota and eastern Kentucky. Carolina hemlock occurs on dry mountain slopes in the southern Appalachians of western Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. Eastern hemlock is also commonly planted as a tree, shrub, or hedge in ornamental landscapes. At least 274 cultivars of eastern hemlock are known to exist. Description The hemlock woolly adelgid is tiny, less than 1/16-inch (1.5-mm) long, and varies from dark reddish-brown to purplish-black in color. As it matures, it produces a covering of wool-like wax fi laments to protect itself and its eggs from natural enemies and prevent them from drying out. This “wool”  (ovisac) is most conspicuous when the adelgid is mature and laying eggs. Ovisacs can be readily observed from late fall to early summer on the underside of the outermost branch tips of hemlock trees (figure 1). Life History FIGURE 2.—Hemlock woolly adelgid nymphs in dormancy. FIGURE 3.—Chemical treatment using the soil injection method. FIGURE 4.—Predators introduced for control in the Eastern United States, left to right (origin): Sasajiscymnus tsugae (Japan), Scymnus sinuanodulus (China), and Laricobius nigrinus (Western North America). The hemlock woolly adelgid is parthenogenetic (all individuals are female with asexual reproduction) and has six stages of development: the egg, four nymphal instars, and the adult. The adelgid completes two generations a year on hemlock. The winter generation, the sistens, develops from early summer to midspring of the following year (June–March). The spring generation, the progrediens, develops from spring to early summer (March–June). The generations overlap in mid to late spring. The hemlock woolly adelgid is unusual in that it enters a period of dormancy during the hot summer months. The nymphs during this time period have a tiny halo of woolly wax surrounding their bodies (figure 2). The adelgids begin to feed once cooler temperatures prevail, usually in October, and continue throughout the winter months. The ovisacs of the winter generation contain up to 300 eggs, while the spring generation ovisacs contain between 20 and 75 eggs. When hatched, the fi rst instar nymphs, called crawlers, search for suitable feeding sites on the twigs at the base of hemlock needles. Once settled, the nymphs begin feeding on the young twig tissue and remain at that location throughout the remainder of their development. Unlike closely related insects that feed on nutrients in sap, the hemlock woolly adelgid feeds on stored starches. These starch reserves are critical to the tree’s growth and long-term survival. Dispersal and movement of hemlock woolly adelgid occur primarily during the fi rst instar crawler stage as a result of wind and by birds, deer, and other forest-dwelling mammals that come in contact with the sticky ovisacs and crawlers. Isolated infestations and long-distance movement of hemlock woolly adelgid, though, most often occur as the result of people transporting infested nursery stock. Control Cultural, regulatory, chemical, and biological controls can reduce the hemlock woolly adelgid’s rate of spread and protect individual trees. Actions such as moving bird feeders away from hemlocks and removing isolated infested trees from a woodlot can help prevent further infestations. State quarantines help prevent the movement of infested materials into noninfested areas. Chemical control options, such as foliar sprays using horticultural oils and insecticidal soaps, are effective when trees can be saturated to ensure that the insecticide comes in contact with the adelgid. Several systemic insecticides have also proven effective on large trees when applied to the soil around the base of the tree or injected directly into the stem (figure 3). Chemical control is limited to individual tree treatments in readily accessible, nonenvironmentally sensitive areas; it is not feasible in forests, particularly when large numbers of trees are infested. Chemical treatments offer a short-term solution, and applications may need to be repeated in subsequent years. The best option for managing hemlock woolly adelgid in forests is biological control. Although there are natural enemies native to Eastern North America that feed on hemlock woolly adelgid, they are not effective at reducing populations enough to prevent tree mortality. Therefore, biological control opportunities using natural enemies (predators and pathogens) from the adelgid’s native environment are currently being investigated. Several predators known to feed exclusively on adelgids have been imported from China, Japan, and Western North America and are slowly becoming established throughout the infested region (fi gure 4). It will likely take a complex of natural enemies to maintain hemlock woolly adelgid populations below damaging levels. Efforts to locate, evaluate, and establish other natural enemies continue. Pesticide Precautionary Statement Pesticides used improperly can be injurious to humans, animals, and plants. Follow the directions and heed all precautions on the labels. Note: Some States have restrictions on the use of certain pesticides. Check your State and local regulations. Also, because registrations of pesticides are under constant review by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, consult your county agricultural agent or State extension specialist to be sure the intended use is still registered. For additional information or copies of this publication, visit http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/hwa. USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry 11 Campus Boulevard, Suite 200 Newtown Square, PA 19073 www.na.fs.fed.us USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.