If you have an ash tree on your property, the emerald ash borer is now your problem to think about. This small metallic-green beetle has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees across North America in the last two decades, and it is now active across Kansas. For Wichita homeowners, the question is no longer whether emerald ash borer will reach your neighborhood — it is whether your ash tree is worth treating, or whether professional removal is the safer and more practical call. This guide walks through identifying ash trees, recognizing the signs of an infestation, weighing treatment against removal, and what to plant once an ash is gone. Everything below is based on what we see every week across the Wichita metro.
What Is the Emerald Ash Borer?
The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis), or EAB for short, is an invasive wood-boring beetle native to northeastern Asia. It was first discovered in North America near Detroit in 2002, almost certainly after arriving in wood packing material on cargo ships. From that single entry point, it has spread across more than 35 states and killed an estimated several hundred million ash trees. The pace of the spread is possible because the beetle has no natural predators here and our native ash trees have no evolved defenses against it.
The adult beetles are small — about a half inch long and a brilliant metallic green. They emerge from infested trees in late spring, typically May and June across Kansas, mate, and lay eggs in the bark crevices of healthy ash trees. It is the larvae that do the real damage. After the eggs hatch, the larvae tunnel beneath the bark and feed on the phloem, the living tissue that moves sugars and nutrients between the roots and the canopy. A single larva creates a serpentine tunnel, or gallery, under the bark. Enough of them feeding simultaneously sever the tree's internal plumbing and the tree starves from the top down.
Ash tree mortality in established EAB populations approaches one hundred percent. A tree that becomes infested typically declines visibly within two years and dies within three to five. There is no curing an infested tree — only preventative or early-intervention treatment that keeps a healthy tree alive through active injection cycles.
Is Emerald Ash Borer in the Wichita Area?
Yes. EAB has been actively spreading across Kansas for years and has now been confirmed in nearly twenty counties and counting. The Kansas Forest Service continues to document new detections each year, and the beetle has established populations in the Wichita metro region. Any untreated ash tree in the Wichita area — whether in Wichita itself, Park City, Derby, Andover, Maize, or the smaller surrounding communities — should be considered at risk.
The reason this matters so much for our area specifically is the planting history. Green ash was one of the most heavily planted shade trees in Wichita from the 1960s through the 1990s. Developers liked it because it grew quickly, tolerated Wichita's alkaline clay soils, and produced a clean, pleasing canopy. Entire neighborhoods were planted almost exclusively with ash, which means that on many residential streets in the metro you can still count a dozen mature ash trees in a single block. That concentration is exactly the scenario EAB thrives on. For a deeper look at why this species was so dominant and where it shows up, our guide to common tree species in Wichita has the full background.
How to Identify an Ash Tree on Your Property
Before you worry about emerald ash borer, you need to know whether the tree you are looking at is actually an ash. Several Wichita trees look superficially similar, and misidentification is common. Three features, taken together, confirm ash:
- Opposite branching. Branches and buds grow directly across from each other on the stem, not alternating or staggered. Most trees in Wichita have alternate branching — only ash, maple, dogwood, and a few others are opposite. If the branches are alternating, it is not an ash.
- Compound leaves with 5 to 9 leaflets. An ash "leaf" is actually a compound structure built from multiple leaflets arranged along a central stem. Most green ash leaves have seven leaflets, though five or nine also occur. The leaflets are oval, pointed at the tip, and finely toothed along the edges.
- Diamond-pattern bark on mature trees. As ash trees mature, their bark develops distinctive, diamond-shaped or interlacing ridges. Young ash trees have smoother gray bark, but the diamond pattern becomes obvious by the time a tree is fifteen to twenty years old.
Ash is occasionally confused with walnut, hickory, and boxelder. Black walnut and hickory both have compound leaves but branch alternately, which rules them out quickly. Boxelder, sometimes called "ash-leaved maple," does have opposite branching and compound leaves, but its leaflets are coarser-toothed and deeper-lobed than an ash, and its twigs are distinctly green. If you are not sure, photograph a leaf and a section of bark and we will confirm it during a free estimate visit.
Signs Your Ash Tree Has Emerald Ash Borer
Once you have confirmed you have an ash, the next step is looking for the specific markers of an EAB infestation. The beetle itself is rarely seen — it is small, fast, and spends most of its life hidden under bark. Instead, you watch for the damage it leaves behind.
Canopy dieback starting at the top. EAB kills an ash tree from the top down. The first visible sign is usually dead branches in the upper third of the canopy, while the lower branches still leaf out normally in spring. Homeowners often notice this after other trees have fully leafed out and the ash still looks partially bare at the top. By the time you see dieback in the lower canopy, the infestation is well advanced.
D-shaped exit holes in the bark. When adult beetles emerge in late spring, they chew their way out through the bark, leaving tiny D-shaped holes roughly one-eighth of an inch wide. The flat side of the D can face any direction. These holes are the most definitive visible sign of EAB — no other Kansas tree pest produces them. Check the main trunk and larger limbs in summer, especially at eye level and above. The holes are small, so look carefully.
S-shaped serpentine galleries under the bark. If you strip a piece of loose bark off a declining ash, EAB galleries are unmistakable: winding, S-shaped tunnels packed with fine, sawdust-colored frass. They cross back and forth across the wood grain. This is confirmation that the tree is actively infested.
Heavy woodpecker activity and bark "blonding." Woodpeckers feed aggressively on EAB larvae and will strip away outer bark to reach them. The stripped areas expose the lighter inner bark, creating patches of pale color on the trunk and larger limbs — a condition called blonding. If a mature ash that was previously ignored by woodpeckers suddenly becomes their favorite feeding tree, EAB is the likely reason.
Epicormic sprouts from the trunk. As the canopy dies back, the tree tries to compensate by pushing out new leafy shoots directly from the trunk and larger limbs. These suckers are a distress signal — the tree is running out of functional leaves higher up and is attempting to replace them wherever it still can.
Vertical bark splits. In the later stages of infestation, the bark may split vertically as the underlying gallery damage compromises the cambium. These cracks often expose the galleries beneath.
One sign alone does not confirm EAB — many things can cause a stressed ash to drop branches. But when you see two or more of the markers above on the same tree, particularly D-shaped exit holes plus canopy dieback, the diagnosis is effectively confirmed. If your ash is showing any of these signs of decline, the window for decision-making has narrowed.
Treat or Remove? How to Decide
This is the decision every Wichita homeowner with an ash tree will eventually have to make. Treatment is real, it works, and for the right tree it is worth the money. But not every ash tree is a good candidate, and treatment is not a one-time cost.
When treatment makes sense
Treatment is the right call when all of the following are true:
- The tree is healthy or only mildly affected. If the canopy is still at least seventy percent intact and there are no D-shaped exit holes or galleries visible, treatment has a strong chance of keeping the tree alive indefinitely.
- The tree is in a high-value location. A mature ash providing significant shade to a home, adding meaningful value to a lot, or irreplaceable in its current location — a shared specimen tree, an anchor of the front yard — is worth protecting.
- The owner is willing to commit to ongoing treatment. Protective insecticides — typically emamectin benzoate trunk injections every two years, or imidacloprid soil drenches every year — have to be applied for the life of the tree. There is no stopping once you start. If the budget or the follow-through is not there, the tree will die as soon as treatment ends.
- The trunk is under about twenty inches in diameter. Smaller trees respond well to homeowner-applied soil drench products. Larger trees usually need professional trunk injection, which is more expensive but more reliable.
When removal is the right call
Removal is the better decision when any of the following apply:
- The canopy has already lost more than about thirty percent. Trees with significant canopy dieback do not recover even with treatment. At that point you are paying to slow the decline, not reverse it.
- D-shaped exit holes are widespread on the trunk. Widespread exit holes mean the beetle has been present for at least a full cycle and internal damage is extensive. Treatment at that stage is generally not cost-effective.
- The tree has structural defects. Cracks, included bark, significant lean, or existing deadwood in the crown push the risk-benefit calculation toward removal even before EAB is considered.
- The tree is in a risky location. An ash next to a house, driveway, power line, or common-use area has a higher cost of failure. When failure is a matter of when rather than if, waiting is the expensive choice.
- The owner does not want a lifelong treatment commitment. Many homeowners decide, reasonably, that they would rather spend money once on removal and replanting than sign up for decades of insecticide applications.
A useful mental shortcut: if you would not plant a new ash tree in that exact spot today, removal is usually the better long-term answer. For a more general framework on assessing whether a tree should come down, our article on signs a tree needs to be removed lays out the criteria we use during estimates.
Why Dead Ash Trees Are Especially Dangerous
Ash trees that die from EAB become hazardous much faster than most other species. The mechanism is specific: once the beetle has destroyed the cambium and the tree is dead, the wood dries out and turns brittle within one to two years. A dead oak can stand for a decade before it starts dropping limbs. A dead ash starts dropping limbs almost as soon as it is dead, and can do it in calm weather.
The failures are also unpredictable. Limbs break without warning. Whole tops can shear off and come down in one piece. Trunks that look solid can be riddled with internal galleries that compromise the structural wood. Climbers have to rethink their approach on EAB-killed ash — ropes cannot always be set in the usual places, and equipment that relies on live-wood strength is not safe to use. It is exactly the kind of removal we mean when we say, "When others pass, give us a call. If it's sketchy, we want it."
Homeowners sometimes try to take down a dead ash themselves because the tree is small or the cuts look simple. Do not. The single most common cause of serious injury in residential tree work is a dead branch or stem failing unexpectedly during cutting, and EAB-killed ash is the species that most often produces those failures. For a full rundown of what can go wrong, our article on why you should never DIY tree removal covers the specific risks.
Ash Tree Removal Cost in Wichita
Ash tree removal pricing follows the same general structure as any other tree, but with a consistent adjustment for the additional risk and complexity an EAB-killed tree introduces. Based on what we see across the Wichita metro:
- Small ash under thirty feet: generally $300 to $600. Many ornamental and younger ash trees fall here.
- Medium ash, thirty to sixty feet: generally $600 to $1,800. This covers the bulk of mature neighborhood ash.
- Large ash, sixty feet and above: generally $1,800 to $3,500 or more, especially when the tree is near a structure, a power line, or a fence that has to be protected.
Dead ash trees tend to price at the upper end of these ranges because the brittle wood requires additional rigging caution, more controlled lowering, and sometimes a different removal technique than a live tree would. Where a sound tree can be cut in bigger sections, a dead ash often has to be broken down piece by piece to control where the wood ends up. For a detailed breakdown of what drives tree removal pricing generally, see our full guide on how much tree removal costs in Wichita.
Two related services typically come up when an ash is removed. Stump grinding is almost always cheaper to add to the same visit than to schedule separately, and most homeowners want the stump gone so they can replant. And because mature ash trees produce a large volume of wood and brush, we bring our grapple truck for the cleanup — it is the most efficient way to get ash debris off a property, and that efficiency keeps the final invoice competitive.
Disposing of Ash Wood Responsibly
One important note specific to ash: do not transport ash firewood or limbs to other areas. EAB larvae can survive in cut wood, and moving untreated ash wood is one of the main ways the beetle spreads to new neighborhoods and counties. The standard guideline is to burn it on site or process it where it falls — do not haul a trailer of ash firewood to a cabin, a relative's house, or a campground.
When we remove an ash tree, the debris is handled on site and hauled directly to an approved disposal facility using our grapple truck. That means no staging, no transferring between trucks, and no risk of dropping infested wood somewhere it does not belong on the way.
What to Plant After Removing an Ash Tree in Wichita
Once the ash is gone, the natural instinct is to replace it with another fast shade tree. The more important principle is diversification: do not replant the same species that just failed across the neighborhood. A mix of species gives the whole urban canopy resilience against the next insect or disease that comes through.
Good replacement species for Wichita's clay soils and climate include:
- Bur oak. Native, drought-tolerant, and extremely long-lived. Slower than ash but builds a superior long-term canopy.
- Shumard red oak. Faster than bur oak, with excellent fall color and good tolerance for urban conditions.
- Kentucky coffee tree. A tough, underused native with a spreading form and moderate growth rate. Pest-resistant and unusual enough that it diversifies the local canopy.
- American hornbeam. A smaller option for front yards or tighter spots — dense, graceful, and largely untroubled by pests.
- Disease-resistant elm cultivars. Modern cultivars like 'Accolade' and 'Princeton' bring back the American elm form with resistance to Dutch elm disease.
Avoid replanting any ash species, and avoid Bradford pear and silver maple, which bring their own structural problems to the Wichita area. For a fuller survey of what does and does not do well locally, our guide to common Wichita tree species is the best starting point.
Why Homeowners Call Kohnen's for Ash Tree Removal
Kohnen's Tree Service is family-owned and locally operated, and owner Joe Kohnen personally climbs and works every job. That matters most on exactly the kind of brittle, high-risk removal an EAB-killed ash becomes. We are fully insured and licensed for all tree work in Kansas, and we carry both liability insurance and workers' compensation — which matters because an uninsured contractor working on a dead ash is a liability that can transfer to you.
We are known across the Wichita metro for taking on the removals other companies decline. Large ash, dead ash, ash leaning over a house or power line — that is the work we specialize in. We bring the right rigging for brittle wood, the right climbing technique for compromised structure, and the right equipment for efficient cleanup. With over 120 five-star Google reviews, our track record on exactly these kinds of jobs is on the record for anyone to read.
We serve Wichita and surrounding communities within a 40-mile radius — Park City, Derby, Andover, Goddard, Maize, Valley Center, Newton, El Dorado, Augusta, Rose Hill, and the smaller communities in between. If your tree was damaged or has already come down because it was dead, our emergency tree service is available 24/7.
"A dead ash is not a dead oak. The wood goes brittle fast, and the tree stops behaving the way our crew expects a tree to behave. That is why we do this work ourselves and why we take the time to assess every ash before we start cutting. If your ash is showing any of the signs, call and I will come look at it — no pressure, no obligation, no charge."
— Joe Kohnen, Owner, Kohnen's Tree Service
If you are not sure whether your ash tree is a candidate for treatment or removal, the next step is a free in-person assessment. We will identify the tree, look for signs of EAB, evaluate the canopy and structure, and give you an honest read on whether you have time to treat or whether removal is the right call now. The estimate is free, the conversation is straightforward, and if the tree is worth saving we will tell you that.
Request your free ash tree assessment online, or call (316) 207-4740 any time. We respond the same day.