Dead, brittle, ash trees. (neighborhood, closing, professionals)

[fisheye]

We have many dead, brittle, ash trees around our neighborhood. They were all killed in the last few years by the emerald ash borer. About a week ago we had a storm front that moved through with high winds and many of those dead trees started to fall. They are now pithy and can snap very easily with high winds or ice and snow accumulations. Even though many came down, there are still many that will come down in the very near future.

As they do come down you can expect more road closures and power outages. When they hit the ground they are messy to clean up, they break into many smaller logs and branches; unlike what we see when 'normal' trees fall. This also makes them dangerous to be removed or cut down by the 'professionals'.

Fortunately, ash trees did not grow every place. I have many in my neighborhood. If you have some in your neighborhood, learn how to identify them. It might be wise to not park your car under one if you are expecting high winds or heavy snow. It would also be wise to not walk under them in a wind event. I had to take alternative routes to work after the last wind event, several had come down closing two of my local roads. Stay safe!

[PAhippo]

here's help identifying them.






https://leafyplace.com/ash-tree-types-bark-and-leaves/

[Wells5]

The sycamores are also dying.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by PAhippo

here's help identifying them.






https://leafyplace.com/ash-tree-types-bark-and-leaves/

Unfortunately, You cannot identify them by their leaves now, they are all dead and have no leaves. Furthermore, the bark (because of the woodpecker damage) looks yellow (at first) then darkens with age.

I had cut down about two-thirds of my 60 ash trees, but I still have about 20 left. Fortunately, they are not close to my house. I do have a few trees on my right-of-way close to my driveway and I will get rid of them next Spring (if they don't fall first).

I just worry because there are so many of them out there and they are all ready to fall. I look at a group of them on my neighbor's property and three went down just in the last wind storm. They snapped off from five to ten feet above the ground. My feeling is that is just the start.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by Wells5

The sycamores are also dying.

Fortunately, I do not have sycamores by me. But I do have many ash trees. Here is what is killing the sycamores: https://www.purdue.edu/fnr/extension...ycamore-trees/. The article does state that many will recover with time.