Treat or Remove? Verona's Ash Trees at the Emerald Ash Borer Decision Point

Drive the residential blocks on either side of Main Street in Verona and you'll see the whole emerald ash borer story in one street: an ash that's full and green because the owner has been injecting it every couple of years, next to an ash that's half bare, next to a stump. The trees that are still alive in Verona are alive because someone made a decision. This is how to make yours.

Quick answer

If your ash has lost less than about 30% of its canopy, it can usually be saved with emamectin benzoate trunk injections every two to three years. Past 30%, removal is the better spend — treatment rarely brings a tree back from there, and a dead ash gets more dangerous and more expensive to remove every season it stands. Emerald ash borer has been the default assumption for any untreated ash in Dane County for a decade; there is no "wait and see."

How to judge your tree

Stand back far enough to see the whole crown, in full leaf, and estimate how much of it is bare or thin compared to what a full ash canopy should look like. Then look for:

• Thinning from the top down — EAB kills the crown first.
• Sprouts along the trunk and main limbs (epicormic shoots). The tree is trying to replace what it's losing.
• Woodpecker damage — flecked, lighter bark where birds have been digging for larvae.
• D-shaped exit holes about an eighth of an inch across.
• Bark splitting over S-shaped galleries underneath.

Sprouts and woodpecker flecking with a still-mostly-full crown: treat. Top third bare with heavy sprouting: remove.

What treatment involves

Emamectin benzoate is injected directly into the trunk in late spring or early summer and protects the tree for two to three years. It's the most effective EAB treatment available and it has to be applied by a licensed professional. In Verona we typically put treated ash on a two-year cycle, because skipping a cycle on a tree that's already been attacked is how you lose a tree you've paid to protect. Treatment is priced by trunk diameter; a typical mature yard ash runs a few hundred dollars per cycle — a fraction of removal, spread over years.

What removal costs, and why waiting costs more

A medium ash with drive-up access in Verona runs roughly $700–$1,400 to remove. Verona's older lots are deep enough that a crane usually fits, which keeps even large ash removals reasonable. But dead ash dries and goes brittle within a couple of years, and once it's too dangerous to climb the whole job has to be done from a lift or crane — roughly double. The cheapest dead ash is the one removed this season. Our Verona tree removal page has the full cost table.

Is it worth saving?

Usually yes, if it's saveable. A mature ash provides shade, screening, and property value that a replacement tree won't match for twenty years. The math on treatment versus removal-plus-replacement favors treatment for most healthy trees in the older Verona neighborhoods. It stops favoring treatment when the crown is already going — which is why the 30% line matters and why the honest answer sometimes is "take it down."

Verona-specific notes

Private-property removals don't need a permit; terrace trees are the City's and go through Public Works. The newer HOA subdivisions — Hometown Junction and the Highway 18 and 151 developments — often have covenant rules on removal and replacement, which we research before quoting. MGE serves most of Verona; ash grown into service lines need clearance coordinated first.

• Treatment, pruning of treated ash, and pricing: tree trimming in Verona.
• Diagnosis and injection programs: arborist services.
• All of our Verona tree services, or book a free estimate online.

Tree Wise Men LLC is a TCIA Accredited, ISA Certified tree care company serving Verona and all of Dane County from our Madison office, fifteen minutes away. Call (608) 716-4167 for a free assessment.