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We have a large, mature, Ash tree in our garden, which is about 9m from the nearest point of the house (the corner of the gable end). The very edge of the crown is just under the same radius, so not quite overhanging the house. It's far enough away from the house that I don't have to declare it on the buildings insurance (they ask for anything within 5m).
I'm quite happy with it being there, but is there anything I should be doing to maintain/manage it?
is there anything I should be doing to maintain/manage it?
An enormous ashtray?
*insert badoom-tish gif here*
Ash tree's are like weeds and the only thing that seems to kill them is the dieback. I've got ~12 ash trees in my garden and i do sod all with them, other than clear up their leaves in Autumn (harder than it sounds). They are a sturdy tree and never seem to suffer from drought. The only major issue with Ash and maintaining them, is when you get dead branches. They grow so damn tall with no low canopy to climb on to get rid of dead branches, so unless you have a cherry picker you have to wait for them to fall naturally. Cuckoos seem to like making homes in ours, so have a few holes high up.
Young Ash, grow really quick!!
caveat - onyl personal observation from mine..
Firstly look for signs of Ash die back.
That would be an excuse/requirement to take it down.
If you can live with it you can pollard it but personally I think pollarding is the devils work.
My neighbour has one that looks more like a mobile tower trying to look like a tree. Massive trunk and branches with spindly vertical branches.
Let it live I say. If Ash die back is as prevalent as they claim its day are numbered anyway.
Die back is tearing through our Ash so it's time is limited... Or up, I'm afraid. If I were you I'd plan on removing it in the next year or 3 and put money aside, keep a close eye on it and if it starts to look sickly get it dealt with. If it stays healthy, bonus.
Excellent wood for burning. If you're an STW user you must have a wood burning stove.
Count yourself lucky, we had an enormous leylandii when we moved in, killed everything around it, dropped horrible acid leaves to block the neighbours' gutters and cost ~£1,000 to take down as it was right in the corner and very near buildings.
I’m quite happy with it being there, but is there anything I should be doing to maintain/manage it?
Is it making the house fall down?
If no, then probably not, would be my take.
Unless you have a problem with it blocking light, then, get someone in to cut a load of stuff off it.
Don’t they have boom sticks?
Count yourself lucky, we had an enormous leylandii when we moved in
Oh, we've got a leylandii hedge as well, under the Ash tree.
Is it making the house fall down?
Not that I can see
If no, then probably not, would be my take.
Yeah, happy to leave it, just wondered if there was anything I should be looking out for. Dieback, obvs, guess I better Google the symptoms/signs
Unless you have a problem with it blocking light, then, get someone in to cut a load of stuff off it.
TBF, it does block a LOT of light, but we can live with it. Personally I'd rather get rid of the leylandii but they do provide a good amount of privacy for us and the people in the house behind.
You could get a tree surgeon to come and take a look/health check. I suppose the outcome will be biased based on whether you like the tree and just want to maintain it, or looking for an excuse to cut it down. Alternative would be crown reduction if you want to stop it encroaching on the house.
We got a guy in to look at ours as it was looking a bit sick. He said we need to chop it down as soon as possible. If left too long he'd not be willing to climb it as branches fall off too easily and it would need to be felled which is a much bigger job.
We got a guy in to look at ours as it was looking a bit sick. He said we need to chop it down as soon as possible. If left too long he’d not be willing to climb it as branches fall off too easily and it would need to be felled which is a much bigger job.
That sounds like a guy trying to get you to rush into a job, get another opinion.
The best thing for trees is to be left alone, they have been managing fine for millions of years before people came along and decided they knew best, most dont and make a **** of working on them.
Don't what ever lop and top it. It's bad for the health of the tree and looks godawful.
Pollarding as above can look pretty horrid as most people use it as a legitimate topping as opposed to a wood production method.
Ash Dieback is as common as they say, so much so that movement restrictions have been eased.
Enjoy your tree for as long as possible but familiarize yourself with the indicators that your tree may be infected. The tree surgeon you had round may be playing on Ash's reputation for brittleness when dry, I may have been lucky but have never experienced this myself. Our local authority is implementing a policy of removal once 50% crown death is evident if the tree could fail onto the carriageway, this may help in deciding when to put it out of it's misery.
It has been heartening to see so many people keen to retain their trees, it darkens the soul to repeatedly hear "I like trees but ..." followed by a litany of reasons why their's should be butchered or removed.
We back onto a large Ash wood; with very steep slopes - 40%?
Anecdotally, our mature ash are fine; the usual dropping of branches in high wind etc (the kids' trampoline gets covered in branches in winter).
The slightly smaller ones (ie maybe 15cm diameter) do seem to be falling slightly more than normal; maybe 10 this year so far. Now, it's a steep slope (they're shallow rooted), and we've had a lot of strong northerly winds (the only direction that can get us). So whether it's a start of things, I dunno. It does mean more wood than I can easily saw though.
The smaller saplings (ie up to 3m in height) are beginning to suffer from dieback quite badly. Give it 20 years and I think the 300 acre wood will be a lot different. Especially with the deer eating the saplings of most other trees...
it darkens the soul to repeatedly hear “I like trees but …” followed by a litany of reasons why their’s should be butchered or removed.
Everybody likes trees, just in other people's gardens as long as they don't drop leaves in their garden or cast any shade and won't cost them any money and...
I can empathise with you being on the local authority forestry team.
Everyone likes trees in the right setting. A small garden is not a good seeing for a large tree and some kinds are worse than others, either for lack of habitat for creatures or for damage to buildings or other reasons.
Ash, native and ok to look at, can be a problem for buildings but not the worst for it, fast growing and get too big quickly, definitely going on to die soonish from dieback, likely to get brittle as it dries becoming a danger.... As I said, put money aside now and at the first sign of stickiness get it seen to. Ash is our most common hedgerow tree, UK will look different with it gone.