What could be killing all the ash?

[ohsoloco]

Last year after moving into my new place, I was commenting about all of the fallen and standing dead red oak, and some of you mentioned that red oak is not a very shade tolerant species  :P  Well, about a month or so back I started wandering the woodlot again to find any more firewood.  I happened to notice a dead ash while looking around, and after that any time I came across an ash tree 4 out of 5 times the tree was dead  :(  A lot of them are only in the 4-8" diameter range, but several of my largest ash trees are also dead (approx. 14" DBH).  Most of these trees show no signs of damage.  There are some 16" (give or take) cherry, hickory, maple, white pine...but most of the large trees are red oak.  Any ideas  ???

[RSteiner]

I have heard that there is something called the emerald ash borer which is affecting ash trees in parts of the country.

Randy

[Ron Scott]

Have your local Conservation District Forester check your trees to determine if you have the emerald ash bore in your area. Note the Forum Threads here on Emerald Ash Bore.

[estiers]

When you say no signs of damage, do you mean the tree (limbs, trunk, etc.) looks perfectly fine except for the fact that it is dead?  Do you have woodpeckers in your area?  If so, was there any woodpecker damage to the tree?  Were these trees perfectly fine last year, or was there crown dieback?

Yes, we have Emerald Ash Borer in this country, but it is not known to be in PA, or even near PA.  Any additional info you could give me about these trees would be helpful.

[ohsoloco]

I've read plently around here about the EAB, but like estiers said, I didn't think it was anywhere around here. 

I've seen woodpecker damage to some trees, but not in any of the ash in question.  To tell you the truth, I don't know how these trees were doing last year, because I really didn't take notice  :-\  I'm guessing some of the larger ones have been dead for a while, since a lot of the branches are gone.  Of the ash that is still alive, I've noticed that some of the crowns are dying as well  :(

[Phorester]

With two widely different species (oak and ash) dying in the same woodlot, it might just be environmental.  Drought, excessive rainfall, a combination of the two over the years, a low wet site, a droughty site, etc.   Hard to say without looking at it.

As Ron says, I suspect you will have to have a local forester take a look to determine the cause.

[Ron Wenrich]

Its pretty prevalent in some areas.  I've seen it referred to as ash decline and ash yellows.  I'm running into a lot more dead ash coming across the headblocks. 

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/howtos/ht_ash/ht_ash.htm

[ohsoloco]

Actually, all of the mature red oak seems to be healthy  and is certainly the dominant species on this lot, which is running up a hill. 

Thanks for the link, Ron   

Most of it will be firewood, but I should at least get a few nice sawlogs. 

[RSteiner]

I think the weather has been pretty dry in PA. and around the Northeast the ash is the last to get leaves in the spring and the first to loose them in the fall.  Maybe what you see is some what normal.  I know my ash trees drop more branches than other trees do. 

I have several around the house that have been there for more than 40 years and one next to the barn that is over 45" DBH.  These tress look as normal as ever, but I worry that something might affect them.

Randy

[SwampDonkey]

Something hit an ash (black) on my uncle's lawn a couple years ago. It seemed to kill a section of the crown in the upper portion and one side. Weird. The ash is still alive though. One thing I've noticed about black ash , is they'll die out at times and it doesn't seem to be related to anything. Something obviously causes this, often times over looked by the casual observer. I think alot of times it's high water table and with the forest covered with so many ground weeds it's hard to tell from a distance. Other times I beleive it's some kind of blight. (just my speculation because there isn't much information on it)

[ohsoloco]

Some of these trees are OBVIOUSLY dead.  Some of the others, however, just look like they don't have any leaves on them.  I was in the woods marking these trees over a month ago so I could pick them out once all the leaves are down (I skid fuel wood out by hand, so I wait until it's cold and there's some snow on the ground).  Do you think there's any chance of some of these coming back next year  ???  I'd hate to cut some of them down if they could still be alright  :-\

[Timburr]

Here in Britain, we have what is called 'ash dieback', which has similar symtoms to Ron's 'ash decline' and 'ash yellows'. It's known here, to start with root stress such as cultivating or compacting adjacent soil and out of the ordinary drought or flood. Hedgerow trees and forest edge trees are very suseptable, when nearby arable operations are carried out.

It is believed that pathogens enter the damaged roots and eventually wipe the tree out.