ash dieback

[greg.g]

Unfortunately one of the trees at our new property is a rather poorly Ash.
Its a grand old tree with a base diameter in excess of 1m
We moved into this house in early March, just before the lockdown started. As you would expect the trees were bare but soon started to produce pollen and early shoots. Once the leaves started to appear, they soon turned black and wilted.
I have looked up the symptoms on line and its almost certainly ash dieback.
We will have to get specialists in to remove the tree. No easy task as its pretty close to a summer house down near the end of our garden. It is on a steep valley but bordering the end of our property is a horse paddock so it may be possible to get access via there. Such a shame to have to see the tree go though.
As a side issue, we do have 2 wood burning stoves here. Would it be possible for us to salvage some of the logs or does it all have to be removed and destroyed?
Not a problem that expected to have

 

[Broch]

Ash dieback does not have to be removed; it's all over the country now. It's fine for logging and use in the wood burner. We have it in one of our woods - all the young saplings develop it, die back, then re-shoot from the base the next year. The advice at the moment is, unless the tree is in a dangerous position (could fall onto a road or onto the house etc.) to leave it up - it provides a decaying habitat for wildlife and there is a possibility that some trees will live through it. I appreciate that a tree in a garden may need to come down though. There's still good timber in an infected tree that can be used for more than burning as well.

 

[greg.g]

Thanks for that. One of the first things I did when we moved in was to fit a bat box on the tree. We do like to encourage wild life.
Very happy here though in Wales. Best thing we ever did

 

[slowworm]

I gather the most risky material with ash die back is the leaf litter and small twigs. They carry the spores and reinfect the tree. I've seen it suggested you should clear them away if you have a specific tree you wish to save but in a woodland setting it's unrealistic. I've not heard of any problems transporting the logs and if there was keeping them on site would be ideal.

The latest I've read is that single trees are more likely to survive than dense areas of ash trees. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52582304

 

[greg.g]

My neighbour also has a single ash tree that's infected.

 

[slowworm]

I have quite a few and most, if not all, show signs of ADB. Some are virtually dead, others growing ok but look stressed and a few look fine. I'm removing the worst offenders and hoping that'll leave room for the more resistant ones.

 

[lou1661]

I had a ADB tree split out in the wind a few weeks ago. I found this site https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/t...ees-and-woodland-including-logs-and-firewood/ Quite helpful to look at.
Cheers
Louis

 

[punkrockcaveman]

Ash dieback thrives in leaf litter, so clearing any dropped ash leaves and twigs will help to eliminate spores.

Anything that favours the healthy growth of the Ash will help too.

 

[Broch]

Ash dieback thrives in leaf litter, so clearing any dropped ash leaves and twigs will help to eliminate spores.

Anything that favours the healthy growth of the Ash will help too.

You'd think, but in a garden with one or two ash there's little point - they either have it or not, and in a woodland it's an impossible task. It's not on the recommended action list published by any of the woodland/forest associations that I get regular information from. I know it sounds defeatist but ADB is here and everywhere; we can only hope that some trees have the ability to withstand it or live through it and a gene pool of tolerant trees emerges.

In the mean time we are advised to plan for alternative planting.

 

[punkrockcaveman]

I know what you mean - the only reason I say is I did a tree disease course with the woodland trust 2 years ago and that is what the course leader had said.

 

[greg.g]

I had a ADB tree split out in the wind a few weeks ago. I found this site https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/t...ees-and-woodland-including-logs-and-firewood/ Quite helpful to look at.
Cheers
Louis

Quite a lot of useful information on that website. Thanks

 

[greg.g]

Fingers crossed.
The tree is now sprouting new leaves on most branches. As yet, no sight of them wilting or turning black.

 

[Broch]

Fingers crossed.
The tree is now sprouting new leaves on most branches. As yet, no sight of them wilting or turning black.

I'm afraid they do. Quite a few of the saplings I have are completely dead from six inches up but have new shoots growing from the bottom. Larger ones are sprouting new shoots and branches 2 metres up but are completely dead above 3 metres. A few more mature ones (15 years old) have one side completely dead but alive on one main branch.

The oldest tree that is showing signs of it is 25 years old and that has a few branches that have died back but otherwise looks healthy.

 

[slowworm]

How's the ash doing near everyone this year?

Last autumn was very wet and the ash seemed to be doing fairly well. Sadly this year there seems to be far more bare trees with obvious dieback.

I've had to get someone in to remove a couple of trees that were getting dangerous to others, one almost crumbled when the arborist climbed up it.

 

[Broch]

I've got trees that look in the prime of health of all ages and trees that look nearly dead with just a few sprouts near the trunk - typically saplings and trees up to around 25 years old. None of the mature trees are showing any definitive sign of ADB.

Sadly, I have a couple of very large ash trees not far from the house; if they start to show signs I will have to get them taken down and that will be a job and a half!

I'm also disappointed to say that there are now a few trees shown ADB signs in the main wood which is the other side of the hill; the northern side. About 50% of the trees in the wood are ash

 

[Kadushu]

I have an ash tree in my garden which is ~25 feet tall and looking perfectly healthy. It's dropped its seed in my veg patch and several saplings are growing which I'll plant out in the autumn.

In the nearby woods there are a lot of huge ash trees, roughly half of which suffered die back a couple of years ago but none of them have died. Hopefully the ones not showing symptoms are resistant. I've heard people say there's no point planting ash because they'll all die but I take the opposite view: that we should be propagating as many ash trees as possible, from seed, to bolster the population and promote genetic diversity.

 

[Redhand Jack]

I noticed today that a fair few of the ash trees on my permission have bare branches but I can't see any definite sign of ADB.
Good to read that there's no need to remove infected trees and the timbers still useable when the time comes.

 

[bobnewboy]

Our firewood supplier said that he had been contracted to cut 18 acres of mainly ash in the next few months, so he’s making hay while the sun shines cutting, extracting and storing for seasoning. He said that ADB was the major cause.
Our firewood delivery for this year was a mixture of ash and beech though.

 

[Dave Budd]

About a third of my ash trees are nkw showing some dieback this year. Most of those are showing 20-50% bare branches, but some are defo dead already. The deaduns are all young too.

I'm going to take down some of the bigger ones before they get too far gone so they are less dangerous to work under

 

[greg.g]

Sorry I haven't been keeping an eye on this thread recently.
As an update, I unfortunately had to have our Ash taken down in April this year
It was located near a boundary fence and a summerhouse and both would have been at risk if it had started to drop branches. I employed a local team of tree surgeons to take it down and they did an excellent job. The upside is I now have plenty of fuel for my woodburners. Also a member on here has benefited from a supply of wood with which to make paddles.
Greg