Ash trees

Brian Timmons

Member
Messages
94
Location
Arkansas
My fiances parents have several dead ash trees on their property. The trees have been killed by ash boring beetles. Anyone have experience with this? I need to cut a few down for them. I will probably cut them up for firewood for them. What will I find when I cut them? Will they be hollow on the inside?
 
They might be, but it won't be due to the bugs. Trees get hollow over years of growth, typically you see that on very large old trees. Arborists pound on them with a dead blow hammer and listen for the hollow sound to determine if the tree is hollow.
 
My fiances parents have several dead ash trees on their property. The trees have been killed by ash boring beetles. Anyone have experience with this? I need to cut a few down for them. I will probably cut them up for firewood for them. What will I find when I cut them? Will they be hollow on the inside?
If they are hollow, it is not because of the Emerald Ash Borer. The EAB bores in thru' the bark to the Cambium layer, then goes around the Cambium layer in a circle, severing the major path for nutrients to the tree causing them to die. If you do cut these and plan to transport the wood, there are usually restrictions in place about where it can go as there were put in place when it started, (not sure about now) "zones" from which the wood was not allowed to be moved without specific treatment. This was in an effort to restrict the spread of the Borer and the accompanying damage to the forests. This "zone" practice may have been discontinued due to the wide spread (it's been several years since I last read up on it.)

 
Thanks for the info. Hoping they are solid and the damage is just in the Cambian layer. The bark separated from the trees. I am not transporting any of the wood. Not risking it. It will be burned in their wood burning stove on site about 30 yards from where the trees are to be cut. Hoping I can get them enough fire wood to get them through the winter.
 
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