Mature ash die-back

[tommer9]

Been looking at this ash today. The crown is riddled with daldinia and deadwood. There are numerous cavities from old pruning wounds, and evidence in the crown and on the ground of bits dropping off it regularly and recently. There is also a large amount of rotten stuff up there. I have only looked at it with binoculars so far as the owner wasnt about so i didnt climb it, but as you can see from the photo it isnt a healthy crown. What leaves there are are not well formed either, and in 70 years it has hardly changed shape apparently. Lower in the tree there is vigorous new growth. There are lots of expensive houss and cars and a road underneath/ close to it, however it is in an area of blanket tpo, and in the past the council have dug their heels in, as have the residents. I think that a reduction will be passed, as there are obvious and iminent dangers with this tree, and i dont want to fell it anyway. My question is this though- if i cut out all the affected and dead wood, back to good uninfected wood, will this solve the problem (daldinia only infects dead wood?) as i think that whatever has killed the wood hs been introduced from past arbwork? In order to do that i will effectively doing a 50% reduction!!!! Will this need to be done in two stages, and will the huge wounds that would inevitably be left by me cause the same thing to happen again.

 

Sorry about the rambling, and i understand that without seeing the tree etc it is hard to tell. If i can get up it (the owner wasnt in earlier) i will get some more pics.

[Stephen Blair]

just cut off the crap bits tom, then make the best shape you can, its an ash tree, you couldnt kill it if you tried mate

[gibbon]

Has there been some recent disturbance in the rooting area? Ash really suffer when levels change or soils are compacted.

[Stephen Blair]

probably half a jaeger load of concrete while putting in the bt pole some years ago wouldnt of done it any favours, and is that electric wires aswell tom, if so maybe electricity has something to do with it aswell.

[Marc]

These are just my thoughts on it, from the pics it doesn't look so bad but pictures do not always show the extent of the problems. You say the tree has large amounts of dead and old pruning wounds, these are already entry points for pathogeons so further pruning shouldn't create more problems besides if pruning needs to carried out to reduce risks then it just has to be done.

Have you seen any Inonotus brackets? either hispidus in the crown or dryadus at the base, or other fungi apart from King Alfreds cakes?

 

You could just reduce the areas over targets and remove major dead wood this may leave the crown looking unbalanced, or just reduce the entire tree, qouting percentages on that kind of job is pointless you just have to get up there and start cutting use the force and see what you can do, basically you'll be dictated by the growth points and how hard you have to hit certain areas that have died back. You could do it in stages or just do it in one go being that its an Ash and has good vigour in the lower crown may be worth a punt.

[Marc]

Inonotus hispidus doesn't always fruit every year so look for tell tale black stains like this, although Inonotus his. doesn't usually cause die back in fact the canopy can remain healthy and vigorous the fungi will just deterioate the wood leading to possible failure.

[David oakman]

Has there been some recent disturbance in the rooting area? Ash really suffer when levels change or soils are compacted.

 

Last winter we cleaned out a pond the spoil was put on the bank around an ash tree 3 months later when it had dried the digger came back to spread it out by then the ash was dead:001_smile:

[tommer9]

Thanks very much for all the replies- some really useful comments there.

 

I cant see evidence of any new root disturbance. My present customer in the village has passed that tree for the last 50 odd years and said, when i asked him, that no new drives hade been put in, and that he has photos of thetree fom 1930 looking much the same, and the driveways ,there are two close by, are old.

 

Marc, i see your point on pruning being necessary. I think that is getting to the crux of my pont- is there any point in me just pruning it, or should i just get rid of ot and replant. I fear that the location and past history from planning will mean they will be reluctant to fell. But will pruning be enough. I am assuming that the tree is sick to have the amount of decay that is present. The thing is, i cant see any evidence of basal decay at all, so i was puzzled as to why the tree was in such a poor general state.

[Mesterh]

I would guess as Marc said that it may have Inonotus hispidus, only because I havee seen a few ash with die back like this that had inonotus.

[Giles Hill]

Last winter we cleaned out a pond the spoil was put on the bank around an ash tree 3 months later when it had dried the digger came back to spread it out by then the ash was dead:001_smile:

 

David, was it sludge rather than soil that was placed around the tree?