What's killing thesee trees

[cantoo]

These are pictures of the ash trees I'm cutting down. I have a buddy who says it isn't ash borer damage. What do the pros here say. There are only a couple trees that don't have the marking and I've included a couple pictures of them. I've been cutting the trees that have dead branches on the top because I assume they are going to rot first so maybe that's why there is only a couple without the markings. The trees are form about 8" up to 22" dia. We have ash bore here and have for several years. I've scrapped the bark and found evidence of the borers under the bark layer but haven't had a chance to check these. The stuff I cut earlier in the year didn't seem this bad but maybe I just never noticed it as much. FYI the pile in the back that is all black on the ends is poplar with 8 ash logs at the front.

 

[cantoo]

These trees were cut down 2 weeks ago and hauled home and stacked right away. They don't seem soft or anything but there is a couple on the pile that are well rotted and soft but that may be from something else. It looks like I'm going to have to step up my game and get them cut down and hauled out quick. I'm working in a 40 acre bush that has lots of ash and there is another 5 acres nearby that is almost all ash.

 

[Affordabletree]

Peel back the bark and look at the cambium layer if there are tunnels in it then it is the bore other than that it looks like you might have a fungal infection by the damage to the heart

 

[jrider]

Looks like a chainsaw is the final cause of death

 

[Vibes]

looks like some nice ball bats in that stack

 

[Chris-PA]

We don't have EAB here yet (any day...) but our ashes are dying from ash yellows. It's a slow acting fungal disease.

 

[benp]

Reminds me of how "Sap Streak" disease in Sugar Maples looks.

 

[timbrjackrussel]

I first noticed Ash trees dying in the Goderich area in 1999! Believe it to be Ash Yellows.
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/howtos/ht_ash/ash_yell.pdf

 

[mga]

ants are a big problem around here for trees of all kinds, but not in those pics.

 

[cantoo]

Affordable, used an axe and slice the bark off there is some tunnels on some trees but doesn't look like enough to do this much damage. I don't own the property and the owner doesn't care but I want to get the wood while it is still usable.

 

[Affordabletree]

You probably are just starting to get EAB in your area and the fungal infection is what killed them

 

[blackdogon57]

You probably are just starting to get EAB in your area and the fungal infection is what killed them

Exactly. EAB has no effect on heart wood.

 

[mga]

read some where that in ten years we won't have any more ash trees in america because of that bug.

kinda of interesting how things have changed in just a few years:

Those cultivating ash trees in the 20th century were cautious to get them positioned carefully on planting, knowing that the trees live hundreds of years. A white ash was expected to live 260 years, but could keep right on producing leaves in springtime for another 40 years. The average life span of the green ash was 120 years; its maximum longevity about 175 years.

In 2002, disaster struck the ash tree in the form of a shiny, iridescent green beetle, believed to have hitchhiked into Michigan in wooden pallets from Asia. The lovely insect, called the emerald ash borer, enters ash trees and eats away the nutrient-rich layer of wood just under the bark, felling the tree within one to five years. The insect is moving quickly across the ash tree range, and it has destroyed more than 25 million ash trees.

Tens of millions of dollars have been spent to find a way to stop the emerald ash borer, but as of yet nothing has proved successful. It is expected that many more ash trees will die over the next few years. States such as Texas, with high native ash populations, are organizing ash tree seed collection efforts. Wildlife centers will stash away the seeds at optimal conditions until such time as a solution to the borer problem is discovered.

source:

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/estimated-lifespan-ash-tree-95985.html