Say goodbye to the white ash tree

tedog

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The white ash is going down the same road as the American Chestnut. Will be gone forever in a very short time and there is no defense to save it. An insect called the Emerald ash borer is to blame. I have 7 ash trees on my lot and all are dead. I'll turn them into fire wood this spring. Sad day.
 
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Lost my beautiful Mountain Ash last spring. No berries for the Cedar Waxwings when they come through on their migration.

I cut it down and saved some of the limbs to make Walking sticks. There are some cool legends about the mystical powers of the Ash.

Unlike the White Ash, the Mountain Ash isn't susceptible to the Emerald Ash Borer but has it's own list of enemies.
 
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This has been a huge problem in the Great Lakes region. Had to cut down an ash tree in my back yard that was infested. Ring count made it out as 67 years old. Peeling off sections of bark showed the tracks where the buggers ate their way through. There's a prohibition of transporting firewood between parts of MI to try and stop the spread.
 
This is what was left of my mom's ash tree after a 2014 wind storm. They say it was just 70 mph straight line winds but I think it had some rotation in it judging by the other damage we had.
Mom & dad planted it in 1993 when they moved in. The oaks she planted faired much better.
 

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I'm in the middle of cutting over 100 ash trees in my yard. The only good thing is that my sons will be great at felling trees by the time we're done. Other than that, it is a heart breaking disaster.
 
It is a plague of Biblical proportions...

The white ash is going down the same road as the American Chestnut. Will be gone forever in a very short time and there is no defense to save it. An insect called the Emerald ash borer is to blame. I have 7 ash trees on my lot and all are dead. I'll turn them into fire wood this spring. Sad day.

Here is an interview on NPR I did about the situation:

Beyond Killing Trees, Emerald Ash Borer May Leave Lasting Impression | 90.5 WESA

As the owner of a tree service I'm assured work from this beetle for the next 10 years, but as an Arborist and tree lover I take no joy in this loss of an entire species of tree.

digiroc
 
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This has been a huge problem in the Great Lakes region. Had to cut down an ash tree in my back yard that was infested. Ring count made it out as 67 years old. Peeling off sections of bark showed the tracks where the buggers ate their way through. There's a prohibition of transporting firewood between parts of MI to try and stop the spread.

and they are spreading further each year .. such a large problem nothing is available to stop them with out causing even bigger problems .. I've see some beautiful trees die and cut down because of them ..
 
I have read that the bores are in the eastern part of Nebraska now so I guess the storm just accelerated what was coming. I do know we had a different type of bore in our ash tree and it most likely weakened it.
 
Hi:
In nw Connecticut the emerald ash borer has not really hit us yet but it will. I am taking down the ash trees on my woodlot now and feeding them into the wood stove. Our hemlock trees in most of the state have been hit hard by the woolly adelgid. Once the woolly adelgid gets in a stand of hemlocks you are looking at 3 years and all the hemlocks in the stand are dead. The one insect that has a lot of people concerned is the asian longhorned beetle. This beetle really impacts maple trees and most other hardwoods. Fortunately, the asian longhorned beetle spreads slowly and so far, has been contained by cutting down every tree in an infected area, running them through a chipper and then taking the chips to a biofuel plant. This is what was done to most of the trees in the city of Worester, Mass.
 
Been a tree trimmer for thirty some years now.

Saw the American chestnut go, the tail end of Dutch elm disease and now the ash borer. Central pa they are all pretty much dead. Eastern pa the American ash is dying fast with the European and ornamental steet lined ashes just starting.

We will be removing trees for a long time. Many municipality's will get hit hard as there budget has not yet planned for schools and roadways to be cleared of the impending hazards.

The state parks are being proactive and harvesting the yet live trees for timber. Once dead the beetle tracks leave most wood unusable except maybe pallet wood.

Spoke with local foresters and state forestry dept and a plan is in the works. They put saplings to the side and let the ash borer run out of food. Apparently they only eat this kind of tree and they expect the bugs should quickly die out after all the trees are gone. Then they hope to replant.

Of course seeing a adult ash tree will likely be left to the next generation .

And just for kicks the hemlock tree , PA's state tree is now under attack by the woolly aphid bug. If that tree goes it will be devastating to Pa.
 
They cut down several hundred trees in our Metro parks alone. that was about 3-4 years ago I think. One day the bugs and viruses mother nature has away with things. Just sayin
 
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