Purples Boxes In Triad Trees Answers

4:40 PM, Jun 11, 2012   |    comments
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Guilford County, NC-- A viewer sent WFMY News 2 an email curious about some purple boxes she had seen in trees in various places.

The woman said she had been seeing them for a while in northwest Guilford County and was curious as to what they were, and why they were there.

The discussion brought much curiosity at the WFMY News 2 morning Editorial Meeting as well.

So, WFMY sent Reporter Tony Smith to find some answers.

The purple boxes answer: They are called Emerald Ash Borer Monitoring Traps. An Emeral Ash Borer is a green beetle that feeds on living tissue beneath Ash tree park. Experts we spoke with said the beetles have spread to 15 states (including NC) and are destroying millions of Ash trees.

Why are the boxes purple? They boxes are purple because the beetles are attracted to that color.

The Emerald Ash Borers originated in Asia but were first discoverd in Detroit in 2001.

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