It's not everywhere that ash is. We have many ash on my home property, and the surrounding cities with no sign of EAB.
These pics are all the same tree. Ashwatcher Not sure if you'll be able to see it in the close up. It looks like it was shot with a pellet gun. A few branches still have leaves. The bark on the north side of the tree doesn't look as bad, thats also where the most of the leaves are. (don't know if that means anything or not) the left side here is still damp from the rain. it appears a little darker
TurboDiesel I do see it clearly-nice work-I'll keep my eye out for it-I know its here just like Horkn said but maybe not so prevalent in some areas-but by the time noticed damage is done and they've moved on to the next I guess-that tree sure looks prime for harvest
I've stood my Polar up in front of the quad and lashed it down with a ratchet strap, but mine is a single-axle and it's still tough to get up there...
trying to decide if I want to take it down now and c/s/s it till its dry or let it stand till it's dry then take it down and use it right away. it's definitely green now
A full length log, standing or otherwise, will not dry much until it is cut to length. Wood dries mostly from the cut ends so leaving it standing will not give you much drying. If yo0u do not want to process it, at least cut it to length and stack it to dry. Splitting it will expose more surface for drying but cutting to length will at least start the process. I have some ash reputed to be ready in a season that has been cut to 2 feet for 3 years. I did not have any place to use it so I let it sit stacked and not split. This spring, when I got a wood burner, I split a few rounds and measured them. In all that time they had only dropped to around 20% MC. If I had left the original tree length I might have had a little drying but not as much as I did.
It's been our experience that no matter what the state of it, the firewood will still be best if in the stack for a year. In addition, it might be 10 years or more before it would come down on its own. We have some that are 13 years since the bug and still standing tall.
I've seen far too many examples of fully dry hardwood ( except for the first few feet of rooted dead standing trees) to discount the let it stand method.
Got the ash SS today and while I was at it, the friend who sent me to the storm fallen cut up red oak by the road last month comes down the driveway with yesterdays storm product, a split cherry!
It has rained everyday for 17 days-that ash was in my truck cause I didnt want to tear up the ground backing it in-I like how it bakes in the bedliner normally but it has been so wet it was slimy to work with-MM says 29-31% on the ash which had been down a month in woods before bucking-the fresh fallen cherry reads 35-38%
Man I am super jealous of that wood shed!! The rain has been kicking my butt lately also. I think it has rained almost every day for over a month and not just a little bit of rain either. I am trying to split wood I cut a few months ago and I am afraid it is going to start rotting if I don't get it covered with as wet as it is outside. The wood itself is water logged and slimy just like you were talking about.
This was just shy of half a cord-gonna finish that stack with the cherry to 6' x 8' in that bay and I'm done til fall except for delivered wood like today-he has some more of the cherry and some beech...he was driving an S10 today so couldnt haul much-its too dang hot, too dang wet and they killed a 42" rattler too close for comfort to my farm this week-I'll wait for cooler temps now, and my new snake boots which are on back-order from Chippewa...I've put up 7 cords, I'm well into 16'-17' wood now and getting closer to the 3 yr goal...
Certified106 I know brother-I've said its like living in South FL-we have had a tropical style down pour between 2-4pm almost everyday for 3 freakin weeks! Thanks for the compliment on the woodshed, alot of planning and design went into it and it serves me well-faces south, has shadow-boarded ends for the prevailing west winds and the floor is expanded metal grating---air flow is optimal and it bakes in the sun 14 hours a day-I built it in 2010
EAB has basically taken out ash around here. A few left and I treated one in my yard to try to save it. Pulled about 60 cord out of my little home woods and still have probably another 20 - 30. hundreds of thousands of cords will rot up around here as you can see standing dead in woods everywhere. pretty sad to say the least. They don't miss much and strangle out the trees lifeline. This was a woods and you can see now I have an open hillside. Check out the link for how it is around here. http://imageevent.com/kevininohio/eabcleanup?n=0&z=2&c=4&x=0&m=24&w=0&p=0
Wow, just wow-it looks like you're taking advantage of a very unfortunate and devastating situation-hows the one in your yard doing?
The one in the yard is doing fine. I started treating it before it showed any signs of damage. I want to save at least on. It is only about 8 inches in diameter but you have to treat it once every year. Tree this size is about $15.00 - $20.00/year. I'm using Bayer advanced with Merit. It 's active ingrediant is Imidacloprid and Clothiandin. It got that best reviews of anything out there and you can get it at the box stores. Tree is doing a lot better than me at the moment. Burnt my hand up while doing a compression test on the car. I learned to never assume one cylinder can't be full of gas when the others were dry. I'd post a pic but it's pretty graphic. If you want to see it, let me know. Luckily just heavy 2nd degree and don't seem to have nerve damage. Live and learn!
I use the same Bayer tree stuff on my huge ash trees in my yard. No sign of EAB, but there's tons of ash around here that is in woods and untreated and doing well. Some areas on this state have been devastated by EAB. Just not here.
Kevin in Ohio You take care and heal quick-sounds bad enough but like they say, it can always be worse.
