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Ash trees and sad times

N

Northvale PA

Member
Well, we have (had) a very big Ash tree in our front yard that my wife has been putting the pour on pesticide around the roots to keep away the emerald ash borer. Couldn’t save it. So, it had to come down as it did overhang the house, yard, etc. and was starting to drop dead limbs. We rented a lift and got at it. My wife purchased a battery powered pole saw, which gave me another 10’ of reach and easily cut thru 4” limbs. Here I am, way up there, with 3 of the 8 big branches already gone. The big branches are about 12” at their base and the tree trunk an easy 3’. The lift is a tow behind that I maneuvered around with the JD 2010. Over the years, we never seemed to get much Ash firewood as they were hardy trees that rarely died or blew over. We all know the story now. And yes, that is an overhead electric line running out to the barn. I was planning to drop it, which only takes about 10 minutes, but, as it turns out I got good at cutting the limbs so they swung 180 degrees straight down, broke off and dropped near the trunk. We had to tug a few sideways with a rope that were over the house. For such a sad task, it went well.
cvphoto67447.jpg
 
While we have no Ash trees in our house yard, there are many in the perimeter fence on one farm. And just like yours, sadly dying. Makes reasonable firewood. Good that you got done without a mishap. Cutting trees can be dangerous business
 
Many years ago, we had a huge dead elm over the power line in front of the house next to the highway. I called the power company about it, so they sent a crew to cut it down. They had a bucket truck with hydraulic chain saw. I had never seen one before but it worked good, probably got pretty heavy after a while. I wondered how they would cut it around the wires. They started at the top and cut EVERYTHING off in 2' to 3' pieces and let it fall, pieces just bounced off of the lines. Took a while to clean up. The trunk of the tree was about 3' in diameter.
 
So far the Safari spray on insecticide is working on the two trees in my yard. But they are a lot smaller than yours and I started them a couple years before there was any sign of EAB around the house. Can tell its here now on the untreated trees in the hedgerow. Cutting all of it we can get to for firewood, but will probably lose 90% where its too wet to get in with the tractors.

Tim
 
I like the Oak as it has residue/coals that help in restoration of the fire. My Ash burns nice and I love to cut them because of how clean and straight are the logs, but no ash residue....when it burns out it's gone.
 


I had a maple that was four feet at the base taken down a few years ago. I expected the guy to put ropes on the limbs that were over the house and the utility wires that run up the road and lower them. Nope! he just went up in the bucket and the ten inch limbs started raining down. He cut them on the correct angle to make each one swing on the hinge to exactly where he wanted it to go. Two hours and $1,000 later it was gone.
 
Glad to hear you got it done safely. Ash trees around here are dying or dead. Sad to see .
 
The place where we lived when our boys were growing up had a big ash tree south of the house. The LP tank sat under it. The boys would climb up on the LP tank then up into the tree. They spent hours up there. Last summer I noticed the tree was dying. Kinda made me sad. :(
 
I have lost several ash trees on the place.
Gonna start cutting them all before they die and split for firewood.
Have never burned ash before.
Richard in NW SC
 
Know how you feel. I have had to take down several big oak trees that were too close to the house or wires. Killed by gypsy moths. Had to hire a bucket trudk for one and a tree climber for the other two that a truck couldn't get to. And several further out from the house. I have a bout 5 years fire wood cut split, stacked and covered. And still more dead oaks if I can get to them before they are too far gone. Hat to se them go. Over two ft. at base one was close to 3 ft. Nice old trees that provided shade in the summer.
 
my brother and I hired a Forster to survey the trees on our 200 combined acres in NW Ma.He found that many of the ash had borers and was only a mater of time before they died and became of little value---so we gave him the ok to go ahead and bid the job out
they were supposed to start this week and should be done before spring---but this 18 inch snowfall may have set them back
 
I know what you are going through, I've got oak wilt going through the oak trees on my property. One tree was probably 3-4 hundred years old.
 
An ode to Ash, and every other wood you might burn:

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good they say,
If for logs 'tis laid away.
Make a fire of Elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold

Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last,
it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom
Oaken logs, if dry and old
keep away the winter's cold
But ash wet or ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by.

Attributed to Lady Celia Congrove in 1930, but similar poems appeared in print earlier...
 
I'm burning almost nothing but ash this year. A couple of years ago a logger gave me a whole bunch of trimmings and other logs unusable for lumber. I find that ash burns up very cleanly with very little ASH. I also discovered that there is a difference in ash depending on where it is growing. These tree all came off a very steep slope that faces due North. I noticed that the wood is much more dense than the trees that grow on my property which is directly across the valley and faces due South. Apparently, because it grows a bit slower, it is more dense. Never noticed that before.
 
Not sure what kind of ash you have, what we have in N MN is black ash, it's a popular firewood, but not as many btu's per cord as birch. It's the poorest, with white ash being the best, white ash is also what hockey sticks used to be made of, and many tool handles. We lost a lot of ash last year to wind, I was able to salvage a lot of it, and will be in the years to come. Some of the bigger logs went to a sawmill, the rest for firewood.
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cvphoto67503.jpg
 
Back in May of 1990 we had a freak snow storm that dropped a foot of wet, heavy snow after an unusually mild spring. Trees were all leafed out already and trees were splitting and dropping all over the place. The city got everything cleaned up and proceeded to replant with about 80% ash trees. Arborists have been taking them down in parks and parkways for over a year. Neighbors next door and across the street have lost a total 10 trees. All this in SE Wisconsin that was also devastated by Dutch Elm disease back in the 70’s. We are still being challenged by needle cast fungus on most varieties of spruce ( we lost 9 on the wind break last year ) and black spot on many varieties of maple. Don’t know where it will end. Sad to see to say the least.
 
(quoted from post at 16:46:14 12/18/20) Not sure what kind of ash you have, what we have in N MN is black ash, it's a popular firewood, but not as many btu's per cord as birch. It's the poorest, with white ash being the best, white ash is also what hockey sticks used to be made of, and many tool handles. We lost a lot of ash last year to wind, I was able to salvage a lot of it, and will be in the years to come. Some of the bigger logs went to a sawmill, the rest for firewood.
Click to expand...

We have white ash and, as you say, it's used for hockey sticks and tool handles. Also, one of it's big uses is for baseball bats.
I got this little blurb off the internet.....the guy on the corner will be happy to see that it is popular for eating utensils as it has no
taste.

___________________________________________________
Ash is used for furniture, flooring, doors, cabinetry, architectural moulding and millwork, tool handles, baseball bats, hockey sticks, oars, turnings, and is also sliced for veneer. It is a popular species for food containers due to the wood having no taste.
 
Elm trees were really popular here, lost those was it in the 80s? That was a sad time.

Have a few ash, so far the bug hasn’t gotten here yet, but it is on the way so will be soon enough here.

Everyone planted maple after the elm died, now more maple with the ash issue. Really set up to become a treeless prairie when something comes along and kills maples.

I assume we will just be living in mulberry thickets, as there won’t ever be anything that kills them.......

Paul
 
Some replies here about white ash being used for hockey sticks. For the most part, no longer .... but you can still buy them, see some examples in the link below ..... at a considerable cost saving. I would be surprised if any pro players use them any longer anywhere in the world. Everything now is "composite" material, you can see them exploding now and then during a game. Some players held out for a while using composite shafts and wooden blades but that has pretty much disappeared too. Obviously, the NHL and other pro hockey leagues didn't buckle to the wooden stick manufacturers to keep them in the game (unlike "MLB" baseball who still will not allow aluminum bats to be used). Not sure why that is. And yes, someone mentioned ash as being one of the woods used for baseball bats along with maybe some other types of wood, not sure what they would be.
Wooden hockey sticks for sale 2020 ....
 
Here in Pennsylvania there is concern about the spotted lantern fly spreading and killing a number of a variety of trees.
 
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