• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

Ash Tree

thcri

Gone But Not Forgotten
I have this fairly large Ash tree in my back yard. We have had some really dry weather in the last month with rains just coming a week or so ago. One branch at a time the leaves on the branch are dieing, once all leaves are dead on the branch another set of leaves on a branch will die. It only takes a day or so for all the leaves on the branch to die.

Does anyone here know what it is, should I just cut the thing down or will it come back next year?


murph
 

Glenn9643

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Trees will sometimes drop leaves early around here after a really dry summer. A large elm in the back yard is shedding a lot now. A small blue ash in the north pasture dropped leaves about this time last year and I thought surely it was dead but this year it was back as strong as before. Don't know though, about leaves dying on selected branches. Any signs of insects? I found a "twig girdler" in a japanese maple last year and that resulted in the top half of the tree dying.
At any rate, if it was me I would wait until next spring before last rites.
 

Grooming Snow

New member
:pat: Oh Shit sounds like Emerald Ash Borer :hide: Researchers are putting up "traps" in northwest and central Ohio to track the movements of the emerald ash borer, reports the Detroit Free Press. The traps involve stripping bark from ash trees and then dousing the exposed wood with a "sticky substance," much like the technique used in flypaper and some mousetraps. Emerald ash borers arrived in Ohio in 2003 and researchers believe the bugs are moving south. Until now, though, predicting the ash borers' route has been somewhat of a guessing game.

The emerald ash borer could cripple the Midwest if left unchallenged. It targets green, white, and black ash trees and destroys all three varieties in two to three years, according to the U.S. Forest Service's North Central Research Station website. The bug came to Ohio via Michigan, and Ohio has put a ban on all ash trees from its northern neighbor. Other precautions in Ohio include quarantining infested "sites" and removing trees "in a half-mile circle," says Detroit Free Press. Trees from infested areas were not allowed to be transported out of those areas.

Even with all the precautions, the ash borer has surprised local researchers by appearing in droves near the Toledo Express Airport. "These infestations were there long before they were discovered," Dan Herms, a scientist with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center told Detroit Free Press. But the ash borer will lose the element of surprise, if the traps are successful at capturing them
 

thcri

Gone But Not Forgotten
I ran over to the local nursery and he told me it was not an Ash tree but an American Elm tree. I have a bunch of Chinese Elms that I know have Dutch Elm Disease and don't expect to last much longer as they show signs of Dutch Elm now. This what I thought was an Ash is an American Elm and won't make it past this year according to the guy. Another thing I went out to trim some of the lower branches off and the bees started swarming around me. Somewhere up in the tree is a bee's nest and they don't like me. I will wait until it freezes and then cut the thing down and burn it.


murph
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Murph,

I have an Elm doing the same.

My branches started dieing from the top and have been working their way down.

I cut the tree off about 1' below the branches where the leaves were dieing.
So far (about 3-4 weeks now), it has really slowed the rate of dieing. Not sure if it will last but it might be worth considering if you can safely cut it.

As a side note, if it does die don't bother trying to dig out the stump. It's nearly impossible regardless of how big of a backhoe you use... Dig out the dirt around the stump and cut it off below grade and re-cover with dirt. That's about all you can do.

Brian
 

thcri

Gone But Not Forgotten
Brian,

I have a bunch of Chinese Elms that in the spring will leave out and then all the leaves will die. In about two weeks they start coming back and fill out nicely. I am told that is Dutch Elm Disease and they won't make it long. So I have about ten trees to cut down. I have already cut one of them down about three years ago and your right on the stump. It is a bear to get rid of.

murph
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I don't know the difference between American and Chinese Elm. The only 2 varities I know of are "dead" and "alive". My "alive" ones seem to have their leaves all season so I guess they're not Chinese.

I only have a couple Elm trees so it's no big change in the overall picture if I loose them.

Good luck with yours. My dad has been loosing 15-20% of his Elms each year...
 

humor_me

New member
thcri said:
I have this fairly large Ash tree in my back yard. We have had some really dry weather in the last month with rains just coming a week or so ago. One branch at a time the leaves on the branch are dieing, once all leaves are dead on the branch another set of leaves on a branch will die. It only takes a day or so for all the leaves on the branch to die.

Does anyone here know what it is, should I just cut the thing down or will it come back next year?


murph

Down here, our ashes are magnets for ants. Both carpenter ants and fire ants. They tend to eat them from the inside out. You'll never have one live past 40 years or so. On a specimen like that, you can cut off a ~12" diameter branch and find a third of it missing completely or just rotten inside.
I doubt if you have many ants up north though.
 

tree guy

New member
www.treesaregood.comi can help ! if it is an american elm and single branches are dying it is probably d.e.d. (dutch elm disease) usually an am elm is infected aerially by the fungus carried on a picnic beetle, the beetle knaws through bark and fungus goes from there, the fungus can not move from side to side in the branch and can only go up or down,however once it reaches the root system or stump it can move any direction and travels up the tree like fire. the tree actually kills itself as it is aware of the fungi and attempts to "shut down the tubes" in which the fungi is but usually the fungus is ahead of the shutdown and the tree fails anyway. if it is infected you will see small artistic galleys under the bark, the chinese elms can not get d.e.d. many things cause what you described and are not usually fatal. remove the infected elm and its wood/bark etc during dormancy, if you must keep the wood tarp it and seal the edges with dirt to trap the fungi. if you have more american elms that are keepers contact an isa certified arborist in your area and ask about injecting with arbortect, it lasts for three years and works well.
i know this as i am 2nd generation isa certified arborist with 25 years in the rear view.
 
Top