Keeping ash trees healthy

Roy is currently participating in intensive monitoring trials on 500 ash trees, to experiment with ways of managing and eliminating ash dieback. “With careful pruning and cutting out diseased branches, the trees will continue to thrive, free from disease,” he says. The diseased parts are burned. “Some ash trees are genetically stronger and don’t get diseased at all. I have some that are 12 years old and have never been diseased.” The project takes a lot of time. “Two men come eight times a year. They spray weedkiller around the young trees and prune. The wood they bring back fuels my log stove for the winter,” he adds.