Collecting an Ash

jpelham1

I was wondering if anyone could give any tips on digging out an Ash tree I found in the flood zone on a friends property. It is about 3 feet tall with a 5 or 6 in. dia. trunk, with few branches. It has been broken off at least 4 times by the floods, so it has good taper. The soil is sandy and rocky. How much rootage do I need to help ensure survival Any tips PLEASE.............

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TreeBay

Hi Jpelham,

Welcome to the BonsaiTALK forum!

The easy answer with the ash is to wait until it is dormant and then collect as much root as you can dig and carry.

Start out at least 12 inches from the trunk and probe around with a shovel tip and you will get a good idea as to whether the root system is dense or expansive. It is the fine roots that do the bulk of the work and thick roots are of no real use. Until you get into it it's hard to predict what the root system might look like, but you can expect it to look *something* like the exposed portion of the tree. If it is well branched, the root system is likely to be well branched. If it is weak and straggly, well...

Work your way around the circumference with a shovel and then undercut the root system. This could prove to be a battle, because ash is hardwood like maple used to make ax handles and such. There is likely to be a very strong and solid tap root, so you will need to undercut more and probably rock the tree to one side to access it.

Don't cut too much off the top at this point because the leverage may help you with digging and handling.

If the ground is soft enough you can probe the surface and see whether you have some surface rooting or should go deeper.

An ax (or better yet, a mattock) and a saw would be some very good accessories to take with you. Once you have the tree collected, prune away much of the topgrowth that you do not think will be useful to you for, but leave a couple of nodes for die-back. With the tree dormant, and you discover have a lot of roots you can wash away the field soil with a strong jet of water and clean it up a bit to fit into a fairly deep container in well drained soil. If the root system looks really good, at that time you can cut back some more of the tap root to make a flatter rootball

If you have a ways to go you can take some canvas or burlap and light rope to hold the whole thing together until you get home.

For training, some folks around here like to use those black tubs they sell at the home improvement center for mixing mortar. Thay have a decent shape and a strong lip, and you can drive some holes thorugh it with a drill or a piece of pipe heated with a torch.

Tie the tree into the container with wire or twine to secure it.

If you are at all concerned that you did not get enough root, then you may not want to wash away the field soil.

BTW, the idealized sketch below shows collecting about 2 times what it would take to guarantee the tree's survival. If the root system looked anything like this, you could remove a substantial amount of the tap root when it goes into the training container. More likely, it will be one-sided.

Best of luck!

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TreeBay

Here's a pic of a mortar tub. I could only upload one pic per post.

I think they're ABS plastic, cost about $10-12 for a good sized one.

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