While Vaudreuil-Dorion claims only 10% of their municipal tree inventory are ash trees, many seemed to be located at 405 Park last week, where more than 30 trees were felled.
According to the city website, in the summer of 2014, the city drew up an inventory of public ash trees. Each summer, traps are installed to detect the presence of the insect. Ash trees in poor condition are felled and replaced by other tree species, while some of the healthy trees are treated to protect them from the Emerald Ash Borer. Every year since 2015, a hundred public ash trees are treated with TreeAzin®.
TreeAzin, the most widely used product available in Canada, is produced by the BioForest company from the extract of neem seeds. The neem tree, found in tropical and semi-tropical regions, produces fruit and seeds that are the source of neem oil which can be found in many household products such as soaps and cosmetics.
According to the National Research Council of Canada, BioForest was launched by a small band of government forestry scientists who left their jobs with the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) in the mid-1990s.
TreeAzin is a systemic insecticide, therefore is not sprayed like some insecticides but injected directly into the sapwood. The TreeAzin label quotes that it is toxic to aquatic organisms. It is also toxic to bee brood. The product is systemic and is transported upwards through the tree. Bees may be exposed to residues in floral pollen or nectar resulting from tree injections. Applications to hardwood trees must be made post-bloom.
