Two unwanted plants

Sheila Allder · August 2023

I have these two growing. Any ideas what they could be please? I have tried getting rid of the first one but it has come back. I need to get rid!

Busy-Lizzie · August 2023

The first one looks like a baby ash tree. They seed around a lot. Dig it up.
The second looks like horseweed, Erigeron canadensis, which has hundreds of tiny white flowers and seeds itself everywhere. Pull it up.

bédé · August 2023

ASh is suffering die-back. A bit of sympathy please.

Busy-Lizzie · August 2023

Ours isn't, probably self-seeded, on the boundary of the pavement and NDN. Huge. It's a conservation area so can't even be pruned without permission.

Topbird · August 2023

Definitely get rid of both of those Sheila.

The ash seedling will send down a deeper and thicker tap root until you can no longer dig it out and then you will have a small tree forming which will eventually become a huge tree. We have one within our boundary which is taller than our 2 storey / pitched roof house and has a managed but still approx 15m diameter canopy. Another is just outside the boundary, unmanaged and even bigger.

Not a hint of ash die back on either of them and they drop seeds everywhere. On the plus side they produce the best firewood.

Obelixx · August 2023

Ash trees self seed with gay abandon and rapidly grow very large and hard to deal with.
Best taken out while still small enought to manage without a tree surgeon. Loads of ash trees round here in the country lanes and field boundaries plus 5 in our plot. The younger ones are fine but we've had to have two old ones taken down as they had die-back and that makes for dangeroous flying branches in high winds.

The horseweed also self sows abundantly. We clear loads of it every year and still it comes back so get it out before it sets seed..