Hi all, would anyone care to comment or advise re. this excellent ash tree we planted as a sapling in 2007?
As per title it's now about 13m tall and nearly as wide. My understanding is that in the next few decades it will grow to twice or three times that height, with a corresponding underground reach by the roots.
I'm concerned that the roots may damage the house foundations (raft, poured concrete, built 2005). Distance to the nearest corner is about 11m diagonally. It's a bit closer to the front wall of the garden.
Tree shows occasional signs of disease – it looks glorious right now but later in the year there are usually some bald patches on the northern side.
Would hate to cut it down but house damage or subsidence would be far worse; there's already a few thin cracks at the front actually but I'm 95% sure they're just surface plaster, they haven't changed in years.
If it's the case that it will need to go eventually I'd be inclined to bite the bullet and get it over with before it becomes a massive job.
Thoughts?
by john-dortmunder
9 Comments
It’ll probably double in size at maturity but should be very wind stable.
I’d be more concerned about ash die back bit this looks berry healthy.
If you’re thinking of felling it. The sooner the better imo, it’s not going to get any shorter!
It’s not going to leap grasshopper like at your house if the wind changes. The distance from trunk to house is greater than from ground to top of the tree by a comfortable margin. A very large full grown ash is about 35m. Measure from the base of the trunk to your house.
Ash trees rarely fall over, even in the worst of storms, as they have a substantial tap root that gives them a great foothold in the ground.
Looking at the pics, that tree doesn’t look like it would reach the house even if it did collapse at ground level?
It looks perfectly healthy at the moment which is nice to see. You may start seeing dead branch tips in time as ash dieback is rampant over the last few years. Your one may be one of the lucky resistant ones though. It’s usually gradual at first though so you’ll have a few years warning of its imminent demise if it does become infected.
It’s certainly not a risk right now, and likely won’t be for many years to come. If it has ash dieback it will either succumb to that or show good resistance- if the latter it will be a valuable tree. I wouldn’t remove it just yet, observe for the next five years and then make a decision.
Take a stick and stand at a distance, hold your arm out straight and the stick vertically. Line it up so the stick in your outstretched hand appears the same height as the tree from base to top of the canopy. Once you’re lined up, lay the stick horizontally use it to and measure the distance horizontally between the house and the base of the tree. If the stick covers the house any amount then if it falls it’ll hit your house.
Like this https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRz5YbpC-MpCxqlWW6YqwCppjCqxxzj3jvuY0SAf3T3aA&s
From the looks of the pictures it doesn’t seem to be an immediate risk but a couple of years and it’ll reach the house if it falls.
I wouldn’t cut it down myself. I’d do a MILD PRUNING or crown reduction if you’re any way concerned.
Better to do something like that now than later when the arborist needs to do more work at a greater height.
It isn’t a risk to the house or foundation. Lovely, healthy tree – don’t prune or reduce crown as it just makes it look ugly and weakens the tree. You will be fine for many years.
Thanks to all for the super-quick replies!
u/ColinCookie u/Against_All_Advice u/Baldybogman u/Ok_Astronomer_1960 just to clarify, not sure if maybe the post title and images are separated from my text – but I was actually asking specifically about possible damage by the tree roots to the house foundations, not damage from the tree falling over at this time 🙂 I mentioned its age and approx. dimensions so that we could maybe estimate the root spread distance. Agreed, its current height would not reach the house if it fell.
u/mcguirl2 when you say it’s not a risk right now, I’m not sure if you’re referring to the roots or the fall-damage risk that others have focused on?
u/Appropriate_Sleep424 thanks for the reassurance re. the foundation. I thought it was the case that roots can spread much much further than the above-ground height, which is where my concern came from.
Another great thing about native trees is once they are healthy they are very resistant to getting blown over in a storm. Most storms happen in the winter months so they don’t have any leaves to catch or weigh them down. Most that do blow down are either weakened anyway(e.g. ash dieback) or covered in ivy.
Evergreen trees are usually the ones that get blown down here during storms the most as their foliage catches the wind
You could keep it maintained at a height but it doesn’t look like any kind of danger right now. There’s about a 90% chance it will get ash die back so it has a high chance of rotting and not maturing anyway.