Ash dieback - Different perspective?

[Mark Bolam]

What a striking ash tree on one of Scotland's busiest streets tells us after Sycamore Gap felling

WWW.SCOTSMAN.COM

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An isolated tree on one of Scotland’s busiest streets is proving how nature can defy the ash dieback disease.

 

[Mark J]

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Edited 19 hours ago by Mark J
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[sime42]

Good article that. I've often thought that we've embarked on a knee-jerk, overkill reaction to ADB,

 

 

[spuddog0507]

TBH i dont know if there is a few different strains of Ash in the UK may be some one could clarify this,, around me most Ash trees seemed to be doomed with the odd exception, there is some on the playing field at the back of me that are just coming in to leaf and look in very good health to me but 50/60yds away at the other side of the river there are several that have not looked good for a couple of yrs now and if they get many leaves on this summer i will be suprised ?? then another example i noticed a few yr back was a row of 15 ash trees at the side of the rd, the trees would be 25-30yr old 12 where infected with ADB and now been removed and the 3 remaining trees seemed in good health, i have not been past them yet this year but i will make a point of going that way and see how they are this year,,

[slack ma girdle]

Ash's saving grace is its genetic diversity.  The woodlands that have been planted with ash have all done very badly,  but the seed source will be very limited in genetic diversity, and as a result 80-100% loss. In the wider countryside around me there are still healthy trees. From my kitchen window I can see 7 healthy ash, 10 ash with ADB, but still alive, and 8 dead ash.

[peds]

I am certain I've seen some far-gone casualties make a recovery by this stage, which does make the mass culling of recent years seem a tad drastic, but we all know how brittle and unstable the affected timber is... which is the sort of damage I don't think the trees are able to fix, which does justify removal in a lot of cases, such as roadside and town trees, that sort of thing.

 

It would have been very interesting to have left the problem completely unaddressed, and see what would happen to let nature take its course. 

[tree-fancier123]

he makes two observations about the spores

1 no leaf litter due to paved area below being swept clear

2 no other ash within 100m

so, although the tree may have been infected, the absence of other trees and leaf litter means after abscission the tree can shed most of the pathogen and have a reduced chance of re-infection

As above it may also be a genetically resistant specimen 

The leaf litter will remain at the base of most ash trees, aiding the pathogen's establishment.

So if the author is right woodland ash close together are far more likely to succumb.