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Ash tree late to leaf?

MintteaMinttea Posts: 16
in Problem solving
Is anyone else's ash trees very late to leaf this year? Mine has only just come out in flowers and is still looking very bare!
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Posts

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Yes, very late.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Same here ... not even flowering yet ... buds not swelling either ... 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • MintteaMinttea Posts: 16
    I'm glad it's not just mine! It's much later than last year - I have photographic evidence...cold spring perhaps.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I’m thinking last year’s drought and the continuing dry soil conditions may have something to do with it.  Ash trees have shallow root systems and prefer moist sites ... 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • MintteaMinttea Posts: 16
    Ahh that would make sense.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    Yes - very late here too.
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Oak before ash we'll just get a splash. Ash before oak we're in for a soak.

    Old country boys would tell you this means we're in for a dry summer again.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited May 2019
    The oak tree up the rise from here has been in full leaf for over a week now ... not a sign of spring on this ash ... no flowers and the black buds are still small and hard ... and the twigs sound very dry and rattly when the woodpigeons are canoodling in the branches.

    I know that ash branches are brittle (fraxinus has the same etymological root as fragile) but this is unusual for this tree ... it’s dropped a far greater number of large twigs/small branches than usual over the winter.

    The underlying chalk of this area is very close to the surface in this garden as the hillside has been terraced, and what soil there is is very gritty and free-draining ... I’m a tad concerned 😟 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    Except that climate change means the Old Country Boys are often wrong, these days. Those little sayings rely on the averages being maintained - they regularly haven't been in the last ten years. Just on this one issue, the oaks have been out before the ash every year for the last 4 here, only one of the summers that followed was notably dry.
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    You need to lean on a gate to debate the relative merits of weather forcasting by natural signs I'm afraid.

    Ash be out late this yar, shor soin of droi weathar te com.

    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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