Are ash trees pointless?

We had the ash borer here (NEKS) for many years. I've started losing trees in the yard and will eventually lose lots of mature trees. I'm trying to put in replacements each year so I won't be caught in the sun.

There's a really nice three foot ash tree growing by the old barn. Straight as an arrow and good limb placing. Is it pointless to transplant it? Will the borers attack any age tree? If I got 15 years out of it I would still be happy with the decision to transplant it. I'm not going to do it if they are going to start in on it next year!

Is there not a treatment for the borer ?

Some woodworkers want ash that has borer holes in it. In certain applications, it looks better than clean grain wood.

They have probably killed every ash tree in ohio. A lot of towns are spending most of there budget replacing trees.

It's my understanding that the ash borer kills young trees as small as 1 inch diameter and well before they reach the age to produce seeds (less than 10 years for most ash species), as well as older trees. It will cost you nothing to transplant your little ash tree, so go for it. However, you should add a mix of other tree varieties to your property to avoid the extreme wipeout that has occurred with chestnuts, elms, now ash. At last count on my property I have 29 species of trees (deciduous and evergreen) and shrubs so that when one splices encounters problems, others will still keep things green. My mix includes many green ash but also mountain ash, soft maple (silver and box elder), hard maple, spruce, cedar, wild cherry, burr oak, linden, hackberry, cottonwood, willow, locust, black walnut, butternut, hickory, Russian olive, catalpa, apple crab apple, sour cherry, mulberry, pear, and I'm sure others that escape me at the moment. Depending on only a handful of species is asking for trouble in the future. So good luck to you with your ash, but be prepared for when you lose it.

there is a treatment for trees not yet infected, you pour it around the tree and the tree pulls it into the cambium layer,..as far as the sawed wood looking different it don't, only the sap layer is eaten and it girdles the tree, they don't eat wood

Only live ash trees in Mich are young ones. I don't think they will grow much before the borer get em. I can't cut wood fast enough to keep the dead trees cleaned up. I just cut the down or soon to be down as they seem to decay fast. The standing ones will keep longer.

To replace them, go to a maple or other species.

I haven't seen any evidence of borers here in Geauga County. About half the trees on my place are white ash. I hope I didn't just jinx it.

Our nursery inspector always asks where the ash trees are and because of the borer I have never grown then. There are some Dutch elm disease resistant varieties like Allee, Bosque, Emerald Flair that make great long lasting shade trees. Red maples like Redpointe, or Brandywine. Legacy sugar maple, blackgum, thornless honey locust, are all good shade trees. Nathan

You might want to get the neo Forrester in to give you some advice .

Silly thing is from what I've been told it's cheaper to treat the tree then to cut it down and replace it. There was an article on the internet from the folks that take care of the Edsel B Ford estate and they treat the ash trees there under the premise it's cheaper to treat. I should look up that article and see how that's working for them.

Yes, I am sorry to say...it is pointless. I have living ash trees on the farm up to around 3" diameter. They have some borer damage but are still partially alive. These trees come up from the roots and form dense thickets of suckered saplings but continue to die upon passing the 3" mark. I wish I could show people an aerial of my woods. I have owned that parcel for 5 years next month and still the trees are coming down. I have never been able to even come close to staying ahead of it.

What is the treatment. I have many mature Ash trees and I would sure hate to loose them.

Yes. It is pointless. All ash trees will die.

Dean

I watched it slowly work its way across our woods across the road from my house about 6-7 years ago. No real big ash trees over there, so I wasn't terribly worried about them. Really didn't want to see it behind my house though, as I have huge ash trees along the river flats up to about 40" diameter. I started noticing them dying off shortly after it made its way across the woods across the road. Before they went to total waste, I timbered about 45 very large ash trees that had real nice logs, better than turning them into firewood. I still have hundreds of ash trees I've been working at for the last few years, up to about 30". Most sawmills are taking a lot of ash right now, dead trees, before they actually become punky. Most of you know how long they'll last standing, until the roots rot off and they tip over. With that said, if you cut an ash tree, when it starts to get the sucker leaves on the trunk, it will have sucker trees growing from the stump. I'm sort of hoping by continuing to do that, I'll have some left until they figure something out to stop it. If you cut the suckers, I have found they'll sucker off too. I have a few now that are about 4" in diameter. Just a sort of home brew experiment I'm working on, what have I got to lose?

Ross

We had the elm disease come through MN 30 years ago and wipe them out. 5 years later I saw a few young ones that had come back and tended them as I could - cut out competing species, etc.
Had some nice ones that were 30' tall and starting to show some promise.
Then about 4 years the disease came back and wiped those out. I won't try again. Too disheartening after that long to see them go.

They are in Medina county.

I don't have ash on my place that I know of ? But I do have lots of black walnut of all sizes. Mostly small. Been here 17 years ? and so far this year I have collected up more dead fallen limbs and small trees dead and fallen over or easily pushed over than any other year before. Just seems weird and I am starting to wonder if something is going on ?

It usually costs me much more to take down a tree and remove the stump than it costs to plant a small tree. I would look for a different tree to transplant even if I had to purchase a tree.

By the time you are ready to sell your place the potential buyers might consider any ash tree a liability, some buyers do now.

So do you think this was brought on by the miscreants who ignored wood transport regulations, or would it have happened anyway?