PETERSBURG — For the past two summers, Japanese beetles have gnawed away at the foliage of a 75-year-old red hawthorn tree that was planted as part of the nation’s first highway beautification project. And like an aging person, the tree was having a harder and harder time recovering from the annual assaults. So last week, Frederic Miller, a research associate in entomology with the Morton Arboretum outside Chicago, applied an experimental treatment to the tree’s roots. If it works, it could provide a way to deliver a pesticide without spraying and without damaging the tree by direct injection. The hawthorn is in a wayside park created by Menard Trails and Greenways at the intersection of Illinois 97 and 123 just outside Petersburg. The park is at what used to be a “Y” intersection that has been updated to a “T,” leaving two triangular parcels of green space on both sides of Illinois 123. One of those parcels is home to the historic tree. Hawthorns are valued in conservation plantings because their thorny branches offer protection for nesting birds. Their red fruits provide food for wildlife. Japanese beetles attack the foliage of a variety of plants, including roses, apples, lindens and hawthorns. The leaves are stripped down to the veins at a particularly critical time when trees are storing nutrients and putting on new growth. Miller likens it to a bank account. If the beetles cause too much damage, trees don’t have enough left ...
Anytime
PETERSBURG — For the past two summers, Japanese beetles have gnawed away at the foliage of a 75-year-old red hawthorn tree that was planted as part of the nation’s first highway beautification project. And like an aging person, the tree was having a harder and harder time recovering from the annual assaults. So last week, Frederic Miller, a research associate in entomology with the Morton Arboretum outside Chicago, applied an experimental treatment to the tree’s roots. If it works, it could provide a way to deliver a pesticide without spraying and without damaging the tree by direct injection. The hawthorn is in a wayside park created by Menard Trails and Greenways at the intersection of Illinois 97 and 123 just outside Petersburg. The park is at what used to be a “Y” intersection that has been updated to a “T,” leaving two triangular parcels of green space on both sides of Illinois 123. One of those parcels is home to the historic tree. Hawthorns are valued in conservation plantings because their thorny branches offer protection for nesting birds. Their red fruits provide food for wildlife. Japanese beetles attack the foliage of a variety of plants, including roses, apples, lindens and hawthorns. The leaves are stripped down to the veins at a particularly critical time when trees are storing nutrients and putting on new growth. Miller likens it to a bank account. If the beetles cause too much damage, trees don’t have enough left ...