. It's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out....

===>>> whats the interesting part?????

they will all die .. subject to your checkbooks tolerance of supporting a lost cause ....

in the meantime.. i suggest you plant some replacement trees ...

thx for the pix.. and the interesting observations.... i have lost too many to wax poetic about it ....

ken

Driving along, the ashes around here are in full color or already nearly bare. They contribute a lot to the early part of fall foliage season.

EAB has been spotted in MD in the county adjacent to mine, but appears so far to have not gotten a big foothold yet.

When I drove out to Ohio last spring, the devastation was rampant - in some areas 30% of the trees were dead, all ash.

I just planted my first tree this year and I am paying a lot more attention to the fall colors in my suburban neighborhood and surrounding countryside in the Denver area.

I think most of the fall color around here comes from three kinds of trees:
cottonwoods
green ash
white ash

everything else contributes much less for several reasons, mainly fewer trees, also smaller trees, trees stay in color for shorter period of time, duller color:
honeylocust
linden
aspen
maples
crabapple/apple/pear/plum/cherry
hackberry
oaks

Did I leave anything major out?

I like my white ash when it starts to turn orange, the earlier purple color isn't so interesting to me. Overall the green ashes have a brighter color (yellow) and they can be taller and maybe there are more of them, so I think they contribute more.

And seeing the ashes in the fall makes me realize what a large percentage of the trees here are ashes. I wonder what will replace the ashes here in Colorado?

(edited to add linden to list of minor trees)

This post was edited by olreader on Wed, Oct 16, 13 at 17:57

Ken - yes, I have been planting other trees on the assumption that sooner-or-later (likely sooner!) the ash will die - either from old age or EAB. DH insisted on treating it; I was prepared to let 'nature take its course'. What will be interesting to see is how much longer the ash survives after the green ashes succumb - they certainly seem to be going first! There is a reasonable-sized red oak in the backyard and two middle-aged white pines, so the loss of the ash won't totally remove the shade canopy, but it will certainly affect the scene, particularly in the fall, for a long time! The trees I've been planting so far are all smaller ornamental types as a substitute 'generational' tree needs to go roughly in the area where the ash is now so can't be planted until the ash dies. At that point I may reasses the design for the backyard as a whole so may not want another tree in that spot. We shall see.......

Is there any reason to believe anything will contain the spread of EAB? I heard there's research on some parasitic wasp, if memory serves, but that would just reduce numbers, not wipe them out.

I'm wondering if we should take it on faith that the overwhelming probability is that the EAB WILL sweep across the entire continental U.S., subject to whatever temp. tolerance restriction it may face up north, and effectively wipe out the vast majority of native ash trees (at least green & white)?

The reason I ask is, there are large sections of the U.S. where EAN isn't yet present. For that matter, at the house we bought, there's what's thought to be an ash tree (likely green ash), maybe 20 - 25 feet tall or so. Pretty tree. I wonder whether I should cut it down.

Richard.

I have few white ash on my property, do not plan on cutting down until they are infected. EAB just made it's way to a couple NC counties on the VA border this spring. I never cut a tree down unless I have to.

I had three white ash growing over my home. One NEEDED to come down. Another with a stupid water gathering fork that imitated or caused a bacterial wet wood condition probably needed to and the last was just reaching entirely over my house so the first sign of structural defeciency had me get it removed.

EAB approaching made the decision easier. I have another big one and a smaller one that I pre treated this year and will continue to just so I can say I tried. Maybe by the time they pass the scarlet oak, nyssa nd metasequoia will have enough size to give a good fall effect.

Man them living baseball bat wooded ash trees looked GREAT in the fall :(

What is EAB's climate range in China or wherever?

Ash is top notch for fall color around here.

Its going to be devasting if EAB spreads throughout WI. The number of native Ash in the kettle moraine forest, street streets and yard trees is absolutely staggering.

Olreader,
Do you have Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) and Aspen Populus tremuloides) mixed up?
Cottonwood has the most dreaded fall color here year after year and I'm surrounded by them. They are an unbelievable waste of space IMO.

I could be wrong about any of my IDs, I will start another post about cottonwoods. Thinking about it again, ashes must be the most commonly planted tree here by far. What I am calling green ash turns bright yellow and some of them are quite a bit taller than two story houses. What I am calling white ash has a rounder shape and most of them are shorter, they turn purple towards the top, and then the colors lighten to red and orange later in the season. It seems like half of the big deciduous trees in town could be ashes, probably it's less.

You're right on, Fraxinus americana or white ash has that amazing two tone color which causes that glowing effect. I sometimes wonder if this tree truly is the king of fall color.

Fraxinus pennsylvanica or green ash is well known for its very good yellow color. Its rare that this one disappoints to.

The majority of both of these species are defoliated in my area but some are just past peak.

Research and anecdotal evidence suggests that Green Ash is preferentially selected by EAB and/or is quicker to show EAB damage. On healthy mature trees, the decline of White Ash versus adjacent Green Ash translates into 1-3 extra years.

Good on you for having it treated! Beautiful tree and remember to get it treated again next year.

This post was edited by smivies on Thu, Oct 17, 13 at 14:34

Smivies brings up a good point - of the native ash species, both green ash and black ash succumb relatively quickly, while white ash can hang on for a few years before it is completely killed. It appears that blue ash, on the other hand, may have enough resistance to survive EAB.

Researchers have crossed native ash species with Asian ash species in an effort to breed resistance into the natives. See link.

Here is a link that might be useful: breeding for EAB resistance

EAB does not seem to have made it to the central part of Texas.
Hope we can maintain that in the years ahead.