Help needed with an ash tree please.

[Karen_1980]

I moved in a month ago and was suspicious of the tree health of my ash

 

I've had someone to look at it and it appears the tree base is rotten

I can put my arm up inside the trunk.

I am devastated at the thought of having to cut it down.

One person said they could pollard the top to take the stress out of the trunk and it might give me a couple if years.

The other guy said she to the fact he can get his arm up the centre and it's all soft and rotten it is best to fell it.

 

I am devastated. 

 

Note I didn't add the hoop or the electrics around the base. 

[Steve Bullman]

Looks pretty goosed. Topping it might well make it safe enough to stand up for a couple more years, however you’ll just be left with an ugly tree and 2 bills to pay. One for the pollard and a second one for its inevitable removal down the line .

 

On the flip side if you fell it now, those couple more years you might have been able to enjoy it for can be used to establish a replacement for you to enjoy for many years to come. Fell it now while the firewood is still half decent 

[Mark Bolam]

As Steve says above, I wouldn’t put my name to anything other than a full removal there I’m afraid.

[5thelement]

Remove, grind and replant with an Albizia. 

[krummholz]

If you really want to make as sure as you can be that the decay is as bad as it looks find a consultant with some decay detection equipment such as a Resistograph or even better sonic tomography such as a Picus. The consultant can then write a tree report and recommend a course of action which may involve felling, or pollarding or retention of a spar for habitat, neither of which look "ugly" imho.

 

From the photos you've posted it doesn't look great, but if you're willing to spend ~£500 for a detailed report you will have the best information available. The last thing you want is to condemn it only to find with the last few cuts that it was viable for a good few years more.