Another tree ID

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Wesspur
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Evanrude

Evanrude

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Got a tree at my moms which needs to come down this fall. Unsure what it is eactly (theres an arguement within the family). It's around 30" dbh. Here's a couple pics...

1838c46b-d92f-abb5.jpg


1838c46b-d945-6332.jpg


1838c46b-d958-a65c.jpg


Posted on Tapatalk from my Evo Shift
 
Yep, being up around Fowlerville MI, a lot of Ash trees are already dead. This one seems to still be alive, "sort of"... Are you still seeing some healthy ones? Or are they pretty much devastated up around there?
 
We have alot of green ash that looks similar to the pics as far as distressed looking bark and leaf-less branches on the lower half of the tree (the crowns are more populated with leaves). City block after block with trees that look like that. Now the borer has not been found here but has been identifed about 80 miles NE in Minneapolis. So do we have the start of an EAB infestation or are the trees suffering from some other malidy? I've never found an ash here with the tell tail "d" shaped exit holes.
 
I was going with Ash myself. I haven't cut one this mature/big yet. Mostly cut tall pecker poles in the woods. The depth of the bark had me second guessing. That and I couldn't really make out any EAB holes in it. My old man swore it was Box Elder. I've done a couple google searches this morning on ash and box elder. It definitely fits the Ash descriptions and pics I found. However, Box Elder leaves look pretty close and even the bark is somewhat similar. Plus, my mom has a ton of box elder bugs that hang out on the side of her house.

Hedgerow, I just notice the dead ones and there is a ton of them! I've cut quite a lot of them since I started cutting in fall '08. Probably 25-30 full cords worth. Too bad, they're nice trees really.


Thanks guys! Looks like some good firewood is coming my way! Just gotta figure out where to lay it.
 
Last edited:
Thank your lucky stars that's an ash and not a box elder. A box elder that big would be 80% hollow in the center and a real treat to drop (NOT). Plus they're stinky, slimy and many times full of ants. Of course a box elder would never get that big, it would have fallen long ago from it's own weight.....



Evanrude said:
I was going with Ash myself. I haven't cut one this mature/big yet. Mostly cut tall pecker poles in the woods. The depth of the bark had me second guessing. That and I couldn't really make out any EAB holes in it. My old man swore it was Box Elder. I've done a couple google searches this morning on ash and box elder. It definitely fits the Ash descriptions and pics I found. However, Box Elder leaves look pretty close and even the bark is somewhat similar. Plus, my mom has a ton of box elder bugs that hang out on the side of her house.

Hedgerow, I just notice the dead ones and there is a ton of them! I've cut quite a lot of them since I started cutting in fall '08. Probably 25-30 full cords worth. Too bad, they're nice trees really.


Thanks guys! Looks like some good firewood is coming my way! Just gotta figure out where to lay it.
Click to expand...
 
It would be hard to find a boxelder (junk maple) with a main trunk that high. Most sucker so fast that the main trunk never really develops.
 
You are definitely in EAB territory there, that's the typical look of a tree that's barely holding on to life. EAB larvae will essentially girdle the tree from the inside, that's why you see the all the new growth around the main stem, the tree is sending out new leaves where it can. You definitely have some nice firewood there, preseasoned!
 
Like I said, I thought it was Ash. However, the bark looks a bit different than other large Ash trees around here. They're not so silverish and less depth in the bark.

I agree, thankfully its not that nasty box elder.
 
Stem of box elder is green all the way to terminal leaf scar where ash are only green on individual leaf petoles. They also snap like match sticks on box trees.
 
3fordasho said:
We have alot of green ash that looks similar to the pics as far as distressed looking bark and leaf-less branches on the lower half of the tree (the crowns are more populated with leaves). City block after block with trees that look like that.
Click to expand...

There is something else affecting the ash trees in MN/IA. My parents almost lost a huge one a few years ago and they were ready to have it taken down and then the next year it came back again. I don't remember what they said it had but I'm thinking it was a fungus.
 

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