Excerpts from the discussion thread at the often-interesting arborists subreddit:
"That is an ash tree that has been stricken with the Emerald Ash Borer. That happens from the woodpeckers going for the larvae. As the woodpeckers go, the outer layer of the gray bark falls off, leaving that brownish color...it's called "blonding." While there are treatments, they can be expensive, and the infestation must be caught much earlier than this. This particular tree is a goner.""And the price of removal goes up (or at least it should) as the tree's wood gets sketchier. So much of this job is intentionally making wood fall apart the way we want it to; it's way harder when the wood has a chance of randomly disintegrating while we're climbing. EAB is the current poster child of sketchy trees."
Thanks for the heads up on that. i don't think I have seen any here (Eastern Townships, QC, near VT border), but I am sure it will be here soon. Dutch Elm disease wiped out our six elms (and all others in the area) within two years. One of ours was 135 years old.
ReplyDeleteI take that back - a visit to my neighbour's showed an ash tree just like that - fully infested and woodpeckered.
ReplyDeleteWith fall foliage in full swing, it is hard to tell if my ashes are infested, or the leaves are just turning color. That neighbor I mentioned has a clump of six that are all goners.
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