Went out today with a fresh x cut and made a nice pile of pecker wood. Chain didn’t stay new for long though. I must have been running it too loose because it came off the bar and ended up with some chewed drive teeth. Should be able to clean em up enough to run but that was enough for today.
Did those yes have full canopy last year? If be shocked if they did. That said, I don't think that yes in that state this year will have much foliage at all this year. It's really sad
Highly area dependent. Mine were still throwing pretty good leaves,but you can drive five miles and they’re just laying everywhere . I’d rather not wait for the roots to rot and have nasty surprises breaking out of the tops. I’m building up my supply as a FU to the powers that want to be. They can inflate energy prices to the moon, but I know where my heat is coming from for the foreseeable future.
I’m looking to stash around 10 cords in the barn for my ash trust fund. Got other matters to tend to as well, like this windthrown BL. Only around a month left of favorable hoarding conditions. Yesterday was 44 and raining and I was sweating like a beast.
Back out to test the repaired chain and she still throws chips like a champ. Finished some bucking from yesterday and dropped 2 more good sized ones.
I would definitely say it's highly dependent on location. Our trees never looked like that ( blonding) but there were signs of distress at first, then slight discoloration, then d holes. All these trees had larvae tracks under the bark. 15 miles away at my buddy's place, they had super blond trunks like you see in your pics. Either case, they are goners and are best made into lumber or firewood. We had them run though our area a few years ago.
You don't see the blonding on all of them...just the ones the woodpeckers take a liking to. (why they peck on some (EAB) trees and not others, I have no idea)
That might be it. I never made a correlation to woodpeckers or not, but that makes sense. I split a buck of each killed ash this weekend and the bark could slough off the top layer and it would look all blond. A woodpecker could easily do that.
Such amazing bark strips! I use it for driveway material, like gravel! Also would make great shingles for holzhausen. If I ever build one!
Thanks. Almost all ash with one small, unlucky cherry that got in the way. Plus the windfall from the old maple in my disturbing the peace thread. I know you like to squirrel away stashes at various locales too. A few more loads and the ash trust fund will reach full maturity! Working on the noodlin size stuff next.
It's dead, basicly. As others have said blonding is a sign of woodpeckers working on the bugs. This on ash blonding from the net: Called “ash blonding”, it refers to the lighter color of the inner bark that becomes visible as the outer bark is removed by woodpeckers searching for borers under the bark. If the woodpeckers are that busy, that tree is done for, as are most ash within 5 miles of it.