My ash, my ash, my poor ash.

I'm afraid the damm borer is attacking the area ash trees. There are many in the area that didn't leaf out this past spring. Ours did, but not a full leaf-out. 2 lower branches didn't have leaves at all.



It has started to send out new branches as it fights to live on.


Decent width to it.




Because we're in good shape with wood already CSS'd, it can stay vertical for a while. I'm thinking of having it dropped possibly the fall of '23. I'd have empty racks to put it on.

The lean is a good lean, out into the yard and away from any buildings. I'll still get someone to drop it as there are a few branches that should come off first. Maybe, a tree climber arborist. That's still 15 months away.

 

MikeInMa You may want to get some of the lower branches removed now if you want someone to climb. If you wait 18 months, they may consider the tree too much of a hazard to do any climbing on it. I am not an arborist so you can consider this my $.02 worth.

 

They tend to get very brittle when dead. I wouldn’t wait too long or taking it down my cost you more.

 

I lost a 36" diameter ash from my yard a couple years ago. Nothing I could do, so I milled all of the main stem. Stinks that they are almost history.

 

I wouldn't climb the dead/dying ash I've been cutting.
So brittle a lot of times they explode and they sure make a mess.

 

That is weird, there are still leaves up top...all of them I've seen die top down...to me, that one will still be fine to cut fall of '23 as mentioned.

 

I agree.

 

Yes, this. Ash branches get brittle quickly and will start bowing and breaking. You'd be much better off taking it down this fall than waiting for any longer and risking it dropping branches and dying damage. I had several ash trees that were around my house. I took them all down. The last one I waited and had a branch land on my new roof. No real damage done, but we were lucky.

 

I've seen them do this too. At my house. I'd not wait and remove it this Fall.

 

We’ve lost all of ours in our yard in CT sadly. I know it’s easy to spend your money for you….seriously look into getting that down sooner than later. They can go from looking like they are slowly dying, to parts laying on the ground quickly. Would hate to see it cause damage to something.

 

X2. We've taken down over 200 Ash trees from our property in the past two years. Any that are small enough, I bang with the skid loader bucket first to lessen the dead limbs falling. All the trees are studied for possible widow makers before a saw gets near them and remember to look up as much as you can when felling.

 

I think it's more that the dead tree wicks water/ moisture into it a bit from the roots, and that seems to affect the quality of the wood, rotting it out sooner. The beetle larvae eat the cambium and essentially detaches the bark from the wood, actually aiding the drying of the wood.

That's my theory at least.

At any rate, it's better to get any dead tree, especially ash trees down sooner vs later.