Growing a white ash from suckers

[harryb023]

I have a white ash tree that died over the winter. In the spring, the suckers started flourishing from where the old tree was. And they are still going strong. At first I was just cutting the suckers until I had time to pull out the root system and plant a new tree. Since they are doing so well, though...I thought maybe let one of the suckers grow to see if it will turn into a tree. Anyone have any success or comments on whether or not this can work?

[rainbowgardener]

Don't know. But you didn't say where you are located. In the US everywhere from NY to IN and coastal VA to western WVA and some of the surrounding areas, are in very high emerald ash borer areas. Growing ash trees in those areas is just asking to spread the borer more. I have ash tree seedlings sprouting themselves by the hundreds in my yard -- it is like the ash trees are putting out a desperate bid for survival in the face of possible extinction.

[harryb023]

Thanks Rainbow - I am in Colorado, Denver suburbs.

[rainbowgardener]

You should be OK then, at least for a few years. The beetles were first detected in the United States in 2002 in Michigan, likely arriving in wooden shipping pallets or crates. They’re now present in 24 states, so they've spread pretty widely in just over a decade. Wiki says: It is invasive in North America where it has a core population in Michigan and surrounding states and provinces. Populations are more scattered outside the core area, and the edges of its known distribution range north to the upper peninsula of Michigan, south to northern Louisiana, west to Colorado, and east to Massachusetts. ,,, Green ash and the black ash trees are preferred by EAB. White ash is also killed rapidly, but usually only after all green and black ash trees are eliminated. Blue ash displays some resistance to the emerald ash borer by forming callous tissue around EAB galleries, but are eventually killed.

So your white ash seems like a good choice.

Someone else want to chime in on the original question about growing it from suckers?