Ash trees are beautiful trees that can add life to any garden and make it look unique with their beautiful black buds that make it so unique from other trees.
Before planting one you might be wondering how long it truly lives and the overall life expectancy for the different varieties that are present.
How long do ash trees live?
The life expectancy of ash trees has recently plunged down due to the presence of an insect. Generally, you can expect ash trees to live from anywhere between a hundred and twenty years to even as long as two hundred and sixty years for some species that are safe from the threatening insects.
The life expectancy of ash trees can significantly vary from species to species.
Arizona ash trees or Modesto ash trees:
Arizona ash tree is one of the anomalies amongst all the ash trees present. This is because they tend to have the shortest life expectancy compared to all the others.
They do not follow the general trend and therefore only live up to around fifty years if you are taking good care of it.
Modesto ash trees are cultivars from the Arizona ash trees and can be expected to live longer starting from fifty to almost a hundred and fifty years if they are taken proper care of.
White ash trees or purple ash trees:
White ash trees follow the general trend of ash trees living up to more than a hundred years. If they do not get invaded by insects or diseases then they can live up to two hundred and fifty years.
A cultivar to white ash trees, purple ash trees are recommended to not plant nowadays. This is because they are weaker and more prone to dangerous insects and diseases which do not allow them to live long.
Claret ash trees or Raywood ash trees:
On average claret live trees can live up to one hundred and twenty years.
Its popular and public adored raywood ash tree has a minimum life expectancy of around eighty years but sometimes with good care and ideal conditions, it can live longer than that.
Golden ash trees:
On average, you cannot expect a golden ash tree to live any more than two hundred years. However, there are many golden ash trees that live between two hundred till two hundred and fifty years.
In fact, there are also some that exceed beyond two hundred and fifty years.
Texas ash trees:
Texas ash trees, similar to Arizona ash trees, have a shorter life expectancy compared to all the other species. They have a life expectancy of anywhere between thirty years till fifty years. Some can live a bit longer with ideal and good conditions.
Mountain ash tree:
Under ideal and suitable conditions, mountain ash trees can live up to fifty to seventy years these days.
However, some can also end up living a lot less than that at twenty-five to thirty years because of the new diseases and insects present that terminate their huge life expectancy. They can live much longer than seventy years under ideal conditions.
This is because there have been records of mountain ashes living the past four hundred years.
Green ash tree:
Green ash trees can live up to one hundred and twenty years if all the suitable conditions are provided for them to thrive in and therefore grow to their full potential.
How old is the oldest ash tree?
Usually, white ashes grow the most, but the oldest ash tree recorded is a mountain ash tree. It is said to have been planted in 1521 which makes it a whopping five hundred years old plus-minus.
Ash trees such as mountain trees used to live more than two hundred years and there are still records of it. These days you cannot expect it to live just as long because of insects and viruses present that plummet their huge life expectancy down.
How tall do ash trees grow?
The growth of ash trees depends on the species and the ideal conditions provided to one. On a general note, you can expect your ash trees to grow around thirty meters till even up to forty meters or sometimes a bit more.
This is based on if the ash tree is being provided with all the ideal conditions to thrive in and therefore grow to its full potential.
How long do ash trees take to grow?
This again depends from species to species. For an ash tree to be fully matured, meaning it reaches its full growth can take between sixteen years and up to even sixty years.
It can even reach their full size even before that and continue to grow but after they reach their full maturity it likely will not grow any taller. Reaching their full maturity can take many years.
Is Ash fast-growing? How fast do ash trees grow?
Ash trees are relatively fast-growing trees. If they are provided with the ideal conditions, they can grow up to twenty-five feet tall in twelve years. This is provided that they are given the right conditions to grow and thrive in.
In general, with ideal conditions provided, ash trees grow around 2 feet every year during the initial period of their life which is quite a lot and fast. They end up growing slower if they are planted amongst a bunch of other trees.
There are also certain species of ash trees that end up growing a lot slower than your usual ash trees. The European ash tree is an example of one that tends to grow much slower.
How many inches does an ash tree grow in a year?
If they are provided with the proper thriving conditions then ash trees can generally grow up to twenty-four inches in one year.
This can depend from species to species because there are some species such as the European ash trees that do not grow much in a year, it ends up growing eighteen inches or less than that in a year.
What climate do ash trees grow in?
The best climate in which ash trees thrive is a warm climate that is not too humid. They prefer a little cool climate where they can get enough bright sunlight. However, they are quite adaptable trees so you have nothing to worry about.
But they grow and flower better when provided with the proper growing conditions.
Where do ash trees grow best?
Ash trees grow the best wherever you provide them with the ideal conditions. This means keeping them in an area where the climate is cool and warm with bright direct sunlight. There must also not be too much competition or too many trees around it.
This is because this can end up slowing down their growth. They also like areas where the soil is very fertile and drained well. The soil must also have a pH level between four and seven.
These are the ideal conditions that work the best for most ash trees, however, this might vary between species. Most species are tolerant of different conditions, but some ash trees such as the mountain ash tree are not tolerant of humid conditions.
They require a cool environment to thrive in.
How do I know if my ash tree is drying?
There are many symptoms that can tell if your ash tree is not doing well and on the verge of drying. Some examples can include the tips of the leaves and the tips turning black or brown and getting withered. Dried tips can have some big darkened spots on them.
The black stalks might also have some white elements growing on them. There are also some certain darker spots that are more difficult to spot that can also be very bad and the ultimate end for the trees.
Ash trees usually live long and are open to a variety of different conditions, but these symptoms are mostly due to certain insects and diseases which does not allow ash trees to live much longer nowadays.
Final Thoughts:
Ash trees used to live for a long time. But there are certain diseases and insects that they are prone to now. This ends up causing the ash trees to lose life because these insects spread quickly and substantially damage the ash trees, therefore, preventing them from living longer like they once used to.