Fraxinus (Ash) questions...

[HorseloverFat]

EVERYONE was right..

But to be fair, "everyone
ALSO said Native/indigenous Acer, American Lonicera And Northern Prunus doesn't reduce..

And I've found THESE statements to be untrue...

Sometimes, you gotta figure it out for yourself...(if you do, try for MORE than 1-2 years, to find data of "actuality".

 

[penumbra]

Here is my ash story, it is brief. A few years ago I collected a number of young trees that I thought might be oak, or really anything but ash. A found that 4 of them turned out to be ash. All of our large ash are dead now so I did these small collected doomed trees a service by euthanizing them.
This really had nothing to do with ash borer and everything to do with the futility of making them into anything resembling a bonsai. My other plants deserve my attention because they have potential.
Harsh? Just the circle of life. I did say sorry guys before I got rid of them.

 

[Colorado]

Here is my ash story, it is brief. A few years ago I collected a number of young trees that I thought might be oak, or really anything but ash. A found that 4 of them turned out to be ash. All of our large ash are dead now so I did these small collected doomed trees a service by euthanizing them.
This really had nothing to do with ash borer and everything to do with the futility of making them into anything resembling a bonsai. My other plants deserve my attention because they have potential.
Harsh? Just the circle of life. I did say sorry guys before I got rid of them.

I also tried a native ash dug out from our garden. As weeds, these things seem to quadruple in trunk caliber about every couple weeks it seems, I thought this would be a great bonsai characteristic. Put it in a pot and it didn’t grow much at all for a year! That one went to the compost pile, not worth my effort or space. But you never know until you try!

 

[Eckhoffw]

Sounds like you guys want some seed pods!
Green ash and velvet ash.

 

[Colorado]

They make pretty good landscape trees. We have one in the front yard. Nice purple color in the fall.

 

[HorseloverFat]

They are bare, year-round, here.

Borers got almost all the biguns.

 

[AJL]

I take it the Ash in America and Canada havent yet got Ash dieback disease(Chalara )?It is decimating Ash forests here and in Europe.
Its not worthwhile me attempting Ash Bonsai as theyre all dying around here. The fungal spores blown on the wind and theres no shorth term fix until theyve bred enough disease- resistant trees but by then we will probably have Emerald Ash Borer here too just to finish them all off! its currently spreading westwards into Europe from Russia a bit like Putin's army are trying to do

 

[rockm]

I take it the Ash in America and Canada havent yet got Ash dieback disease(Chalara )?It is decimating Ash forests here and in Europe.
Its not worthwhile me attempting Ash Bonsai as theyre all dying around here. The fungal spores blown on the wind and theres no shorth term fix until theyve bred enough disease- resistant trees but by then we will probably have Emerald Ash Borer here too just to finish them all off! its currently spreading westwards into Europe from Russia a bit like Putin's army are trying to do

We have Emerald Ash Borer that is posing significant threats across the U.S. to native species. It's been a problem since the early 2000's when the insect arrived in wood of CHinese-made shipping pallets.

‘Profoundly devastating’: Invasive emerald ash borer threatens Oregon trees

Jennifer Killian knew the inevitable was coming. She just didn’t know how soon.

www.oregonlive.com

 

[HorseloverFat]

I take it the Ash in America and Canada havent yet got Ash dieback disease(Chalara )?It is decimating Ash forests here and in Europe.
Its not worthwhile me attempting Ash Bonsai as theyre all dying around here. The fungal spores blown on the wind and theres no shorth term fix until theyve bred enough disease- resistant trees but by then we will probably have Emerald Ash Borer here too just to finish them all off! its currently spreading westwards into Europe from Russia a bit like Putin's army are trying to do

We have a whole list of trees/shrubs/plants here, brought from that part of the world, in hopes of dealing with "x" problem, and soon became problems of their own.

I call it the "From Russia with love" list.

Slava Ukraini!!

...

Yeah... We, at least round my frozen, sap-covered regions, have entire sections of forest... Bare.... Everywhere.... It's TOUGH to spot mature fraxinus.

As @rockm said, this is due to the EAB.

It gets worse up "the index finger of Wisconsin" - into Upper Michigan.

 

[HorseloverFat]

.....normally "Big Tree" diseases/EXTREME detrimental pests... tend stay away from small, containerized trees.(This is why I can grow Native American Elms for BONSAI...but NOT for LANDSCAPE.((Dutch Elm Disease)))
The EAB have gotten the only 4 "City Fraxinus" that WERE in the town... But the little one we have... Keeps on keepin' on.

So I'd RECOMMEND keeping European Ash as bonsai... THEY are actually decent participants.

 

[DavidBoren]

I would highly encourage anyone on the west coast to collect as many wild Ash trees as they can, and keep them as bonsai. For training... actually for the survival of the species.

We can release our hideous Ash bonsai trees into the wild after the EAB plague is less of a menace.

 

[DavidBoren]

Here's my current car crash Ash project:

She is an ongoing experiment in horticulture. My lab rat. And, my favorite.

I found another Ash hiding in the Ivy on my fence in the back yard... I will dig it up and stick it in a pot, too.

I don't have what one would call high hopes for either as ever being exceptionally pleasing or pretty bonsai presentations... but hopefully I can keep them both alive for the next ~30 years, or so... then go plant them in the wild, or something. I honestly don't know how long it will take before EAB isn't a guaranteed death sentence for mature Ash trees.

 

[HorseloverFat]

I'll get a picture of ours, now my son's .. he has.. been in charge of stylistic decisions, since I decided to stop 'trying' He performed the repot and work since.

He doesn't like .. 'rules' HAHAHA

 

[HorseloverFat]

Here's my current car crash Ash project:
View attachment 454361
She is an ongoing experiment in horticulture. My lab rat. And, my favorite.

I found another Ash hiding in the Ivy on my fence in the back yard... I will dig it up and stick it in a pot, too.
View attachment 454363View attachment 454364View attachment 454365
I don't have what one would call high hopes for either as ever being exceptionally pleasing or pretty bonsai presentations... but hopefully I can keep them both alive for the next ~30 years, or so... then go plant them in the wild, or something. I honestly don't know how long it will take before EAB isn't a guaranteed death sentence for mature Ash trees.

There are definitely preventative and early treatment options...

Ask local "tree doctors" what they do.

 

[Nickagainst1]

After Leo described the trees chances of being a decent bonsai, why waste the time? Work with, and spend time with something that could actually turn into and acceptable bonsai. Just my opinion of course.

I feel i hear this all too often. Whats a waste of time? Is there some great race in bonsai i am unaware of? Does everyone here throw away thigs they enjiy because 25 years from now it wont be in a musuem? Dont take pictures of your kids thats a waste of time, dont stop and smell the roses, thats also a waste of time.... whats so damn important about all this time you saved? I guess now you have more time to tell people they are wasting time. Also just my opinion.

 

[DavidBoren]

Yeah, I'm already over it hearing the same BS about my car crash of an Ash tree. Like holy h3ll, man, I'm not neglecting some 600yo treasure of a bonsai tree just to waste my time on a 2yo Ash tree... who honestly gives that much of a $#!+ how I spend my time?

It's a tree. You can learn a lot by keeping it alive in a pot. In particular, it is a tree that I have found to respond well to tinkering and abuse... they grow relatively fast, can handle being repeatedly chopped in half, can handle completely random pruning that removes half their foilage, they backbud easily on older wood, they hold their shape pretty well after wire is removed, and I'll let you know how they respond to trunk carving. From my experience, an Ash tree is just as good as any other tree for someone to kill in a pot.

Get it to the shape you want, and spend the rest of its life practicing your ramification technique(s).

 

[Lutonian]

Never gonna be a great classic bonsai. But it really annoys one of my club members that I'm wasting my time on a shohin ash so I keep it for that reason mostly. Leaves do shrink a bit though with sustained effort.

 

[Lutonian]

Some ashes are better than others fraxinus bungeana has gray buds smaller leaves yellow ornamental flowers and it is more of a Bush than a tree. It looks sad due to the heat wave but it will be OK. Leaves in the photo are full sized.

Fraxinus bungeana - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Fraxinus bungeana: An Ash of a Different Color

Fraxinus bungeana, Bunge ash, is a plant that challenges one’s preconception of a genus because, unlike other ashes, this Chinese native is a shrub with showy flowers instead of a tree with inconspicuous flowers. It belongs to a group known as the flowering ashes, which includes the better-known...

arboretum.harvard.edu

 

[Hartinez]

This was almost a month ago and after some type of leaf issue. Looks even better now. If you want to do ash, then just do it. It does help when the trunk has some girth, but I have found the leaves to reduce decently well, and for most new growth, in particular the first 2 or 3 leaves to not be compound. I just need to work on the internode length at this point.

here’s the thread.

Collected Arizona Ash clump/group

Once the leaves have fully turned I will defoliate, trim and wire.

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Taste]

I would highly encourage anyone on the west coast to collect as many wild Ash trees as they can, and keep them as bonsai. For training... actually for the survival of the species.

We can release our hideous Ash bonsai trees into the wild after the EAB plague is less of a menace.

This has become a side project of mine while im doing things. collecting saplings and trees in the way of development of areas and trying to get a stock of ash to play with. As an aquarium keeper as well, i feel the need to conserve things that are otherwise endangered or unable to thrive in their original habitats due to X or Y factor.