How does an ash (green and white ash) hold up in a storm?
A living ash is respectable wood; a dead one is a different tree entirely. Once EAB kills it, ash goes brittle fast and sheds limbs in light wind or on a still day, which is why it fails differently from everything else on this list — it does not bend and split under ice, it snaps and drops with no load event at all.
What pruning can and can't prevent
The only ash worth pruning today is one already enrolled in EAB treatment; a healthy ash takes structural pruning well because of its opposite, upright branching. The trap is pruning a declining ash to tidy it up — Purdue's threshold is that past roughly 50% canopy loss no treatment will recover the tree, so removing more live canopy speeds the decline and spends money on something you will remove anyway.
Related
- How much does it cost to remove an ash (green and white ash)?→
- Should I remove or save my ash (green and white ash)?→
- When should an ash (green and white ash) be pruned?→
- Are ash (green and white ash) roots a problem for foundations or pipes?→
- Is my ash (green and white ash) dying or just stressed?→
- How much does it cost to remove an american basswood?→
- Should I remove or save my american basswood?→
- When should an american basswood be pruned?→