ash. Ash felling over the top or safety

[essential]

So in and around my home town pretty much every ash of any size has been felled in the last month it's changed the outlook of some areas ,you don't realise how many ash there were till they're gone .I understand ash dieback is taking hold ,but this just seems drastic. I understand there's no stopping the infection,  but it's quite saddening to see all these ash just disappear so soon

[skyhuck]

Personally I think the powers that be ask the contractor that going to get the work, which Ash have it and bingo they all have it, funny that.

[woodwizzard]

Understand it for roadside trees, but be nice if lots gets left for standing dead wood in areas that don't effect people.

[Stubby]

2 hours ago, woodwizzard said:

Understand it for roadside trees, but be nice if lots gets left for standing dead wood in areas that don't effect people.

Road side and footpath trees have all been felled but in board stuff with no risk is still stood around here . Thousands of tons though .

[Mark J]

On 07/03/2021 at 15:55, skyhuck said:

Personally I think the powers that be ask the contractor that going to get the work, which Ash have it and bingo they all have it, funny that.

I dunno, I've been shocked at seeing mature trees go from optimal to sub-optimal condition in a period of months. Chalara restricts the vascular capacity of ash and it becomes very brittle, very fast.

It is very likely that >85% of our ash trees are going to struggle with it. 

Which is canny bad.

If I had roadside ash trees I'd be monitoring them closely. No-one wants to work with dead ash over roads.

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Mark J

[Pete Mctree]

It will sadly be the norm, especially roadside. I am ready to start my 2nd summer in a row of ash tree removal on footpaths etc The decline within a growing season, especially of the younger trees is very dramatic.

[Rich Rule]

Be careful out there Pete.

[benedmonds]

It's only just coming into our area but if what I have seen in other areas comes to pass lots of landowners are going to be in BIG trouble.. One of my regular customer has 12 horrible dead trees in his garden and claims he can't afford for us to even remove 1.. We do mostly domestic work and lots of big ash in small gardens. My advice to clients with big ash trees in small gardens with no access is to think very hard if they are going to retain them because if they die with ADB they may not be safe to climb and so be seriously hard to remove.

[skyhuck]

10 hours ago, benedmonds said:

It's only just coming into our area but if what I have seen in other areas comes to pass lots of landowners are going to be in BIG trouble.. One of my regular customer has 12 horrible dead trees in his garden and claims he can't afford for us to even remove 1.. We do mostly domestic work and lots of big ash in small gardens. My advice to clients with big ash trees in small gardens with no access is to think very hard if they are going to retain them because if they die with ADB they may not be safe to climb and so be seriously hard to remove.

So you recommend felling healthy Ash "just in case". I despair, our Ash really are doomed.  

 

I've done a fair few with ADB, most were fine, one was a bit nasty, because she left it for a couple of years. I think removal at the first signs of ADB is fine, but not healthy trees.

 

How can we retain any of our Ash, if the healthy, resistant trees are felled? They need to be retained and allowed to produce future generations of hopefully resistant trees.  

[benedmonds]

43 minutes ago, skyhuck said:

So you recommend felling healthy Ash "just in case". I despair, our Ash really are doomed.  

No. I tell them the advice is not currently to pre-emptively fell ash trees, but if they have large ash trees with no mewp access, they should think carefully before spending lots on other works such as reducing them and that if the ash trees do show signs of ADB then they should act sooner rather then later.

Edited March 9, 2021 by benedmonds