daltontrees

Not quite fine enough for Aspen, more like Populus x canescens which is a hybrid of tremula and alba.

See from 5:59 onwards [ame] [/ame]

It's going to rain tomorrow for the first time in 3 weeks, should kick-start even the reluctant ones.

Agreed. Looks most like Prunus cerasus.

I can now. That's something like I have out the back of my place.

Did you mean to attach a pic?

That's incorrect. The tree owner has a duty of care to the neighbour, and if his tree causes damage to the neighbour's property he is negligent and the cost of making good can uually be recovered. There is lots of established law to that effect. Whether the insurance policy of the tree owner would cover him is a different matter. Don't believe insurance salesmen, they are considerably better at taking money than paying it back out. The claim is gainst the owner, not the insurer. If he's insured agains that sort of risk that's good for him, but it doesn't affect the validity of the claim. I woudld just add, it was good of you to follow this up and share your experience on Arbtalk. So many people come on looking for advice and then don't even let us know what came of it, it's tiresome and it puts me off trying to help. Good on you. I'm sorry your dream house didn't happen but it's better than being sold an expensive problem. Hmm, definitely don't believe house salesmen either....

Like you, I have rock climbing experience. It's useful to be familiar with ropes and knots and some of the kit, but be aware form teh outset rocvk climbing set-ups and tree set-ups are substantially different. The former is about fall-arrest, the harnesses are light and not meant for sitting in for long, the ropes are stretchy to absorb falls. The latter is about work positioning, basically being able to sit in harnesses for longer periods and not moving at all. The maximum permitted fall is about 1/2 a metre. The ropes are unstretchable. There should eb 2 separate attachments when you are cutting. So go cautiously if using rock climbing kit or mentality when working on trees. Others can go on about specific rope techniques. But simply the usual DdRT is like top-roping and the SRT is more like abseiling.

Point taken (again) Gary. I'm always in such a hurry.

Umm, I really ought to proof read my postings. I thnk I meant 'rapid', but not as iteresting as your guess. By opportunistic I mean Ash put out zillions of keys, not targeted, and whatever germinates can hunker down in poor light for years waiting for an opening in the woodland canopy, then they're off. I have current first-hand knowledge of this. Out the back of my house, 20m from here, is a strip of land owned by the Council, until last year dominated by some 20-30m high Poplar. Last year the Council succcumbed to the residents' desparate please to have them removed. Now what is happening is tha thte understorey Ash and all its latest progeny are coming out of the ground at an unbelievable rate. Seedling density is about 50 per m2. Ash that are possibly 10 yearrs old but only a couple of metres high are goig straight up. Meantime the semi-mature stuff (5-7 m) that was at the centre and must have been very very shaded has just about died, I'm guessing a combination of too much light and too much water.

Coulda done with a picture of the underside. At the minute the list is too long to even bother speculating.

And let me guess, you've just read somewhere else that it's the opposite? For anyone that didn't read the article, basically Oak flushing is accelerated quite a lot by daily temperature, Ash not so much so. So a warm spring brings the Oak on before the Ash. In cooler springs the Ash is hardly affected by the temperature and beats the sluggish Oak to it.

If in doubt, do nothng. The tree knows how many leaves it needs.

In my experience Ash germinate absolutely anywhere, without necessarily havign a stategy for the next move. They are really opportunistic.

Thanks, a good wee read, that,

And what's it doing fruiting at this time?

It wold be nice to fidn out for sure. The fruit looks more Prunus than Malus, mainly due to the lack of remains of the flower body. BUt I've looked at the book for about 3o species of Prunus and I can't see any that have this waxier, roundly serrated leaf and no basal glands.

This does not look like Prunus, it looks like Malus. If you can, open one of the fruit. It will be plain even in the unripe state whether it has a stone (Prunus and other genera) or pips (Malus/Pyrus and a few other genera).

Cambuslang, south east edge of Glasgow. Absulutely standard for Ash not to be in leaf until May. Round here they were in flower 6 or 7 weeks ago. Young seedlings all popped into leaf last week. Semi matures popped out during this week, some of the older or weaker trees just starting to flush. There has been a serious lack of rain just when I was expecting Ash leaf last week, perhaps it's a micro determining factor in leafing time. Also dryish northerly winds. Yes Ash is ring porous, suggests a requirement for raid water uptake at and just after leafing for good extension and a decent annual increment.

Sure looks like Zelkova serata

I figured that out, and it's probably Phytopthora, but that doesn't mean it needs a dose of something else to kick it when it's down.

As Sloth suggests, leave it alone. Except I'd say if you can't stand to look a thte dead bits, then look the other way. No good can come of wounding the tree at a time when it is ailing, even if you are just removing dead stuff you will open up infection points.

Horse Chestnut is susceptible to three common problems. Leaf Miner (Cameraria ohridella), Guignardia Leaf Blotch (Guignardia aesculi) and Bleeding Canker (Pseudomonas syringae pv. aesculi). These are almost ubiquitous in the UK. Spray treatments are available to see off Cameraria and Guignardia (spray treatments) and it may be practical on a single smallish tree to spray preventatively. Bleeding Canker is a bit more difficult, and the best way to avoid it that I cna think of is to prevent physical injuries to the bark and to keep the tree as unstressed as possible, meaning mainly adequate watering in dry conditions, not overwatering, good mulching around and no competition form grass or weeds, perhaps occasional liquid feeding, all that stuff. Stressed trees are less able to see off the regular attempts of pathogens to infect and colonise them. Keep the tree healthy and it should live for a couple of centuries.

Good diagnostic characteristic, that. Thanks for the reminder.

I think everyone's fairly sure it's Trametes versicolor. It's a very variable fungus, colours change from situation to situation. The key thing is that even if it's another species of Trametes or even if it's Stereum, it's 'saprophobic' i.e. only feeding on dead wood. So it probably hasn't killed that part of the tree, (that might be whoever sanctioned the heavy previous pruning). What to do? Nothing. The tree will have compartmentalised the dying parts of the tree and the decay as best it can, and removing the dead woood would only open up a new line of attack for this and other fungi.