Ash dieback looking inevitable

jonny99 · 13-12-2018 10:05pm #1

Ive just noticed that this has now been reported in a plantation which can be no more than 15km or so from me.
Very proud of my 8 acres of 11 yr old ash,which Ive spent a lot of effort pruning in the early years, and its frustrating that hoping for the best is all that can be done:o
Not looking for advice or solutions,just venting in a place where people seem to care about these things:)

uck51js9zml2yt · 13-12-2018 10:25pm

Would the sensible thing not be to fell them now while healthy, get some cash and then plant something else?

tabby aspreme · 13-12-2018 11:09pm

Have you inspected your trees closely for signs of the disease, in what part of the country are the trees.

jonny99 · 13-12-2018 11:18pm

tabby aspreme wrote: »

Have you inspected your trees closely for signs of the disease, in what part of the country are the trees.

Cork,and yeah they seem to be fine so far.

tabby aspreme · 13-12-2018 11:26pm

Were the trees imported or home grown

timfromtang · 14-12-2018 1:15pm

jonny99 wrote: »

Ive just noticed that this has now been reported in a plantation which can be no more than 15km or so from me.
Very proud of my 8 acres of 11 yr old ash,which Ive spent a lot of effort pruning in the early years, and its frustrating that hoping for the best is all that can be done:o
Not looking for advice or solutions,just venting in a place where people seem to care about these things:)

Greetings Jonny,
I've been through this too, we had 12 acres of ash that we uprooted and replaced under the reconstitution scheme, uprooting 14500 trees was upsetting to say the least. WE have planted sycamore and birch and 20% diverse hardwoods to replace it.

The rest of our ash though we left and are managing the dieback. Right beside the field I uprooted is a fine healthy female ash tree no symptoms whatsoever so far, and dripping with seed, hopefully she is one of the resistant few. As for the rest of the ash we have, (about 30 acres) we just fell infected stems when they are noticed and rather than selecting for good form when we are thinning we select for health instead.

since you've only 8 acres, spraying the leaf litter at leaf fall with a 50% urea solution will help keep infection pressure low (massively reduce active spore numbers the following season). Some stems will get infected of course, but at 11 years old will have some small value, and as the years go by the infected stems that you remove will be bigger and bigger, ash likes frequent heavy thinning also (which is what managing dieback amounts to).

tim

Accidentally · 15-12-2018 11:30am

I've pockets of Ash in mixed deciduous forestry. Checked it last weekend and still no sign of dieback, but probably just a matter of time. All Irish grown.

If it goes I'll probably replace with various hardwoods, but no Sycamore as I've got Norway Maple coming out of my ears.

Has anyone had any success with Wych Elm in forestry. Ive lost a lot of English Elm in the last 5 years in hedgerows, but Wych Elm seems to be holding out much better.

Dinzee Conlee · 19-12-2018 2:44pm

jonny99 wrote: »

Cork,and yeah they seem to be fine so far.

Hi Jonny,

Where in Cork was it confirmed?

Thanks...

tabby aspreme · 20-12-2018 12:29am

Take a look at the department ash dieback map, for all the outbreaks in each county

Blackcurrants · 24-12-2018 1:39pm

It's all doom and gloom for me on this subject, unfortunately. Its all delaying actions until a resistant strain can be found for restocking. Cut your losses and get planting asap to avoid the weeds getting on top of your young trees. 3-4 years for some trees to be fully dead and the rest to have signs of stress (a good early indicator) or disease in a vigorous 18 year old plantation.
Hoping to use birch and sycamore (like Tim) to restock in areas with enough light and more shade tolerant species where applicable.

timfromtang · 24-12-2018 2:28pm

Blackcurrants wrote: »

It's all doom and gloom for me on this subject, unfortunately. Its all delaying actions until a resistant strain can be found for restocking. Cut your losses and get planting asap to avoid the weeds getting on top of your young trees. 3-4 years for some trees to be fully dead and the rest to have signs of stress (a good early indicator) or disease in a vigorous 18 year old plantation.
Hoping to use birch and sycamore (like Tim) to restock in areas with enough light and more shade tolerant species where applicable.

Hi Blackcurrants,
When I replanted I was hoping to include 30% Spanish chestnut in the mix unfortunately the plants were not available at the time of planting so we will be adding Spanish chestnut whips in a year or two, perhaps 5% or so. We'll probably also add a few walnut whips at this time.
I wanted the Spanish chestnut to add value to the mixture. The Birch being almost completely removed for firewood and charcoal during the rotation with crop trees taken from the Chestnut and Sycamore. Continuous cover management is planned for the parcel.
Chestnut is valuable from an early stage in its growth (like Ash), some may be coppiced for pole material, it is an excellent firewood and nearly as rot resistant as Oak heartwood with the advantage over Oak of a larger proportion of heartwood.
Birch is an excellent firewood and markets for plywood manufacture may open up in Ireland over the next 30 years or so. I will use it as feedstock for charcoal in any case.
Sycamore is an excellent hardwood, known as white maple in the timber trade it is useful for flooring, furniture etc.
Walnut is a valuable hardwood for furniture etc and will provide a nut crop.

Still very sad about the Ash. Although some apparently resistant trees are still growing well here at home.

tim

tabby aspreme · 24-12-2018 7:39pm

Are there any downsides to growing sycamore, I am replanting with mainly oak and birch and planning to stick in a few walnut, cherry ,and sweet chestnut.

Blackcurrants · 24-12-2018 8:27pm

Its quite light demanding and can out compete slower grown species as it's greedy for light. It and birch are going to fill the niche left by the Ash, fast growing firewood species, with the intent to remove most of them to allow the oak and beech to become the mature overstory.

timfromtang · 24-12-2018 9:49pm

tabby aspreme wrote: »

Are there any downsides to growing sycamore, I am replanting with mainly oak and birch and planning to stick in a few walnut, cherry ,and sweet chestnut.

Sycamore is difficult in its way, not slow to dry or anything (unlike oak) but is very prone to fungal decay, especially in contact with the soil, best removed from the forest as soon as it is cut and stacked clear of the ground for firewood uses.

Great care should be taken with sawlogs in this regard too.
Sycamore with the fiddleback figure is very valuable for veneer (I believe there are some folk in the UK who service the US market).
All sycamore for sawing should be cut and sawn in winter, it will degrade from sticker stain and sap stain, the creamy white colour is what is prized and it will discolour as quick as look at you given the chance.
https://www.woodshopnews.com/news/english-sycamore-sought-for-its-figure

tim

Ash dieback looking inevitable

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