Huge Ash or ??

[Coach]

Need some help identifying this.  It's a huge thing for these parts, 36" diameter at chest height, but dying off. About the only trees that get this size in this area are Oak and Cottonwood.

Has an old crack running up the trunk. My first guess was Oak.  Great, I thought, just what my chainsaw mill is looking for.



However, I took out a slice and now I wasn't so sure.  Looks like a really fast growing tree. Fairly light weight.  Darn.  Cottonwood?



However, this was laying nearby. A branch broken off from last fall. Looks like Ash.



And these are the new sprouts.  Are really late compared to the Maple and Cottonwood nearby.



So it's looking like Ash. A few questions, however?  Do Ash grow to such sizes?  And I thought Ash grow slowly and so would have tight rings?

[beenthere]

Looks like ash. 
Look up in the tree to see if the branches and limbs are opposite for confirmation.
Fast grown, but the end grain also looks like ash, although not a good clear pic.
The buds are opposite on the branch shown, as highlighted here.

 

[hacknchop]

Cant tell for sure could be basswood?

[WDH]

100% sure that it is ash.  They can get very big.

[GAB]

The leaves are definitely not basswood.
Gerald

[Dodgy Loner]

100% sure that it is ash.  They can get very big.

Yep. That is a fast-growing ash for your northerly clime. Down here it would be pretty average. I've seen ash as big as 5' in diameter, but they get bigger than that.

[SwampDonkey]

Usually not real fast growing, but on good soil it will sure help. But they can get pretty big. On the farm here in NB we cut lots over 24". We have a lot of ash here. Most of the big trees around here on private land have all been cut. Still a chance to find a big one once in awhile, but may be a less desirable one or on a line fence.

[clww]

Quite a few ash down here at The Beach, but I've never cut a really large one.

[thecfarm]

There was a logger cutting some big Ash,for this area,about 10 minutes away. And there was alot of it too. He was there for quite a while. I think I would be safe to say a couple feet across. I have very few that size.

[Coach]

I'll be milling it. Am hoping no rot inside.

In the Same general area, last year I came across another of the same size, but it's been dead for a while. Bark looked like Ash, but were some huge cottonwood nearby. This one had a big burl at ground level, not on the trunk, but right beside it rising out of the ground. Gonna go check it out.

[DeerMeadowFarm]

I have some big ash trees on my property. Unfortunately a lot of them are dying off. This one was rotted inside and fell directly on my lime spreader  :(


 



 

I had another one, not quite as big, fall over the winter directly on one of my apple trees....  :(

[DeerMeadowFarm]

My daughter in the stump:


 

[pigman]

The stump has a sprout!

[beenthere]

How long after the ash tree died, did it fall? Several years, or pretty immediate?

[DeerMeadowFarm]

I'm not sure beenthere. I first noticed the tree about 5 years prior to it's falling when I cleared the brush/small trees that were taking over the field to the stone wall where the tree was and it was pretty much dead at that point. That tree was over the wall which wasn't my property at the time, but I have since bought the woodlot next to our farm. I have noticed that a LOT of the ash I have is dead.... :(