I still don,t have the bark down yet for green vs white ash. Been fooled till spring when leaves come out. Can’t wait to use chocolate bud part to identify. Unfortunately, another way of identifying white is to look at growth rings when tree is cut down. Green ash has many fat years, White ash rings are very uniform, every year. It’s a “slow growth tree”. I think when the White has a good growing year, it does not take advantage of it by limiting it’s growth. Bad year rings are same size as good too. Tree really paces itself, rings look so uniformly cool, you know its got to be the white.

People are also fooled by age of ash trees, say compared to an Elm trunk, which is so big at 100. It’s a shame when a small slow growth white ash is not saved because they think tree is not that old! Pumpkin ash(natural cross between white & green) grows quickly in swamps, so age rings like cottonwood(has fat buttressed bottom trunk, to hold roots in wet swamp dirt. Walk up to stump and swear tree must have been 200 yrs old, but when counted, it’s only 88. Chicago treated our parkway ash and tree-age injections working 100%, while untreated Ash right next to it, is dead and long gone already. So cool looking at treated tree and knowing that it should be dried up and dead, but so bushy and alive.

Green can live over 300 yrs, White, over 6OO years! Once all untreated ash in area killed by EAB, no more food for bug, since only eats ash. They can not live off of twig sprouts, and ash does not have bush type like Elm, and it’s DED that hangs around. USA is on second, more virulent strain of mold spores, the last 10 yrs. Elm beetle carries mold on it’s back to grow stuff on new Elm. I guess they feed on it.

Wonderful site. Now that I am into native trees, I want to know the birds I hear, and sometimes see, like an Oreo yesterday. What a song/call. Squirrels love nesting in ash, maybe because of thick branches that are opposite to each other. sicadias like ash too. Were going to loose a lot of 17 year ones because of EAB. It’s every 17 years i figured because our moon cycles every 18 years, cool huh. Bird watchers got to love the numerous new woodpecker chicks because of EAB bugs good feeding.

Rob