Ashmageddon - or not?

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 Lankyman 05 Aug 2021

Last year it looked like huge numbers of ash trees were badly afflicted by ash dieback. I had expected this year to witness a veritable graveyard of dead trees. But no. There are quite a few that look dead but most of the larger ones seem to have escaped almost unscathed. It seems to have mostly affected the smaller (younger?) trees. Even a lot of the affected ones seem to have at least some fresh leafage. So far, I can't recall seeing any dead leaves or seed clusters. Have they dodged the dieback bullet or will it kick in again later in the year?

 wintertree 05 Aug 2021
In reply to Lankyman:

A few of the biggest tress out my way look untouched, but a lot more were late in to leaf, have well below normal foliage levels and have bare branches sticking out a few feet beyond the leaves this year.

It's a marked worsening from last year... Of the trees with bare branch ends this year, most looked fine this time last year, but then started shedding their leaves from late august onwards whilst still green, often with filamentous parts of their venous structure being left behind. Last year I had wondered if the early leaf fall was due to the exceptionally dry period around April - the weather has been less bonkers this year so we'll see what happens...

It seems very patchy where it's bad and where it isn't - even to the point where we have one tree with two major trunks, one visibly hammered and one fine.  It seems pandemics always move in mysterious ways. 

In the hope they're reading, I wanted to thank the posters who replied to my thread on this from the spring - it locked before I said "Thanks".  Some very knowledgable stuff in there.

 Duncan Bourne 05 Aug 2021
In reply to Lankyman:

Off the top of my head I believe some varieties are more susceptable than others.

On a related note we still have some rather large elm trees in our area that have escaped the Dutch elm disease purge. Also DED only affects mature trees. I have seen saplings thrive in hedges only to sucumb as they get bigger

OP Lankyman 05 Aug 2021
In reply to wintertree:

Your local area seems different to mine from what you describe. If I hadn't witnessed last year's effects I probably wouldn't think anything much untoward was happening this year. A few dead branches on a few trees being fairly run of the mill much of the time. I can't remember now when the scale of the dieback last year became fully obvious but it must have been mid/late summer. I suppose a major dieback is inevitable but fingers crossed it's not too awful.

 toad 05 Aug 2021
In reply to Lankyman:

Ash are more resilient than elm because they reproduce sexually and are genetically more diverse. This means some ash will be resistant to dieback, but not many. 

It was really apparent last weekend in North Wales, much more than last year. Ironically,  there are a good number of youngish elms which are looking in better condition than the ash. This is in part because elm only becomes infected if a beetle finds it, whereas ash die back is airborne

Older trees may not die completely, but they are still infected. It's a slow burning illness and we have yet to see the full impact. It's bad in areas where ash woodland/ coppice dominate- limestone and clay soils. Much less apparent where other species such as oak, beech or sycamore are the main species. 

 philipivan 05 Aug 2021
In reply to toad:

Will be interesting to see, I have an ash dominating my back garden, it could do with a few meters taking off it and has no lack of leaves. 

 Alkis 05 Aug 2021
In reply to Lankyman:

I went for a walk in the Chilterns earlier in the year and certain parts were a wasteland. Quite sad really.

 jonny taylor 05 Aug 2021
In reply to wintertree:

> a lot more were late in to leaf, have well below normal foliage levels and have bare branches sticking out a few feet beyond the leaves this year.

That's exactly what I'm seeing across the central belt of scotland. They seem to have eventually produced some late, very bushy-looking growth, but not reaching to the branch tips. Sad to see how many are affected - rare that I notice one that *isn't* affected. 

 wintertree 05 Aug 2021
In reply to jonny taylor:

We went to Eden Dene about this time last year - the holes in the forest cover were gaping, we might go back this year for another look.  Not quite such a sad site from the bridge over Hown's Gill (yet).   

Certainly chimes with toad's comment about limestone landscapes.

I'd not appreciated just how much of the woodland and roadside canopy ash makes up until I started looking for signs of dieback.

 Over various threads quite a few people have noted that they rapidly become very fragile; it's going to be a bumper time for tree surgeons keeping the roads, railways and overground cable runs safe and clear over the next few years.  

 jonny taylor 05 Aug 2021
In reply to wintertree:

> quite a few people have noted that they rapidly become very fragile; it's going to be a bumper time for tree surgeons keeping the roads, railways and overground cable runs safe and clear over the next few years.  

Yes, although a forestry conservation friend has also mentioned that councils etc are jumping the gun, and some trees are being felled when they might well have a reasonable amount of life left in them - which is a shame.

 toad 05 Aug 2021
In reply to jonny taylor:

Notts did this, its about budget management- they felled them much earlier than needed so they weren't overwhelmed in a few years. On balance maybe the least worst of several bad outcomes, I'm not sure. 

 wintertree 05 Aug 2021
In reply to jonny taylor:

> Yes, although a forestry conservation friend has also mentioned that councils etc are jumping the gun, and some trees are being felled when they might well have a reasonable amount of life left in them - which is a shame.

A real shame, as presumably it's the more resistant trees we want sending their seeds far and wide...

 davegardner 05 Aug 2021
In reply to jonny taylor:

I've no doubt there's some premature felling but the trouble is no-one quite knows how long an infected tree can safely be retained for and as noted below, budget management plays a strong part in acting pre-emptively.

The other problem with retaining infected ash trees more than likely on their way out is that the longer the fungus degrades the wood for, so the risk to the contractor felling them greatly increases.  

 John Kelly 05 Aug 2021
In reply to jonny taylor:

They become dangerous to fell, top gets brittle, if they have to come down its best done early


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