Mountain ash tree dying

Mary Horan asked 14 years ago

We have a mountain ash tree in our garden.Its about 14yrs.When planted by previous owners they planted it in its container which we cut away when we found the black plastic around it about 10yrs ago.Its about 6ft tall and never grew since we moved here.We put a new bed with wooden sleepers around the tree last April.The sleepers are not railway sleepers but ordinary wood.The tree looked as if it was struggling in June as there were very few leaves coming on it.The leaves are all dying now and yesterday I noticed with horror that the bark is peeling off revealing the trunk as crumbling brown.When I broke off one branch it was dead.What could have happened and is it too late to save it.The tree looks more like wild ash tree as I know them from Mayo rather than one bought in a garden centre hence my love of it.

1 Answers

Gerry Daly Staff answered 6 years ago
The trees acess to the soil was reduced which resulted in stunting and it may also have been planted too deeply. When you placed a bed around, it is likely that you have further compromised the root system and it sounds like a rot-causing fungus has got into the trunk.

It is likely to die and nothing can be done. You could always re-plant with a new plant. The wild rowan is Sorbus aucuparia and it is widely available.

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