Ash Die back cutting, Mid Devon

[devon TWiG]

Are the Ash being felled as an attempt at disease control ?  or are they dead and a safety issue ?  and how big are they ?

[Khriss]

15 hours ago, difflock said:

One of the few times I let rip into an "Expert" was when he identified Ash Dieback in  couple of scraggly saplings in a car park.

An unneeded fuss was made about their removal, which I gladly subbed out to a very decent Arb firm.

We met on site on the day.

He was all "Ho ho ho" is this not wonderful the vital important work I am doing,

until I suggested it was most likely not Ash die-back,

which notion was rapidly and v firmly supported by the Arb professional present.

He then attempted to say that he would have to inspect my privately planted, on my own ground, Ash trees because they could be smitten, as a tongue in cheek threat response to my questioning his judgement.

I  had mentioned my Ash trees to attempt to explain why I might know a bit about the disease, having done some homework, i.e. read through & digested(some of) the 1/2" thick document the Council were supplied with in the early days. 

Which was when I let rip.

Useless self important bastard, &, of course, on the tax payers payroll

Marcus

'some authority issues ' there Marcus ahh well , it may die out of its own accord - I believe native Ash is possibly more resilient but we do need some hard winters to get good seed setting in the next few yrs , which don't seem to be happening * shakes fist at global warming* K

[the village idiot]

I've not seen a healthy looking native Ash in my Wood for a couple of years, and it's mostly Ash. Unfortunately, unless there are large genetic differences throughout the UK the future for Ash looks pretty gloomy.

[Mark J]

It seems like the Ash are pretty much goosed.  The odd one that survives will get munched by Emerald Ash Borer eventually.  That'll let the Sycamores run rampant.

 

[the village idiot]

18 minutes ago, Mark J said:

It seems like the Ash are pretty much goosed.  The odd one that survives will get munched by Emerald Ash Borer eventually.  That'll let the Sycamores run rampant.

 

Yup, quite happy with Sycamore though (from a woodland perspective), just need to keep a bit of an eye on it.

 

We have a no planting policy at the Wood. We feel that what ends up growing is what is suited to the site and it's inhabitants.

 

One of my jobs is to be creative and find ways to make what transpires commercially viable.

 

It is tempting to try and impose a composition on an old woodland, there has not been a good track record with this approach.

 

If tree diseases wipe out all the main players we might need to have a bit of a re-think!

[Mark J]

Seems like a sensible approach.

 

[the village idiot]

4 minutes ago, Mark J said:

Seems like a sensible approach.

 

I hope so!

 

Many of the old school think it's lunacy.

 

My personal instinct is to let nature take it's course. What we probably need is serveral different approaches with good monitoring of the results, and above all continuity and thoughtfulness.

 

What we don't need are knee jerk reactions to cycles which operate over centuries.

[Stubby]

Is anyone harvesting the seed from any apparent resistant trees ?

Edited January 27, 2018 by Stubby

[wicklamulla]

4 hours ago, Stubby said:

Is anyone harvesting the seed from any apparent resistant trees ?

 I believe so Stubby,  i read summit about resistant ash trees last year and from what i can remember some clever bods in white coats were analysing the characteristics and most likely collecting seed samples to experiment with.

[wicklamulla]

14 hours ago, devon TWiG said:

Are the Ash being felled as an attempt at disease control ?  or are they dead and a safety issue ?  and how big are they ?

Tel,   They are from what  i have seen to be 'medium and large' trees.  I tink it's more to do with safety in mind as they apparently are NOT clear felling the each site and it appears to be roadside stuff only.

 

I reckon it's possibly a knee jerk reaction and won't be successful ala the badger cull which in my opinion was a waste of time.

 

Les wait and see if there is a break through within the scientific community in the next decade or so as they may come up with a disease resistant, dominant strain that cud save the day.

Edited January 27, 2018 by wicklamulla