We have about an acre of land where sections of the yard is just tree areas with many large mature trees, honeysuckle, buckthorn and many other trees. I am noticing there are many smaller trees growing in the yard that are a foot to 8 foot high. The Plant ID app I am using is saying they are all White Ash. Why would there be so many White Ash trees establishing themselves? I would say there are 2-30 White Ash trees or various heights. We did loose about 13 or more ash trees to the emerald ash borer over the last couple of years and we still have two larger ash trees that are still alive.

Hi Lori:

Despite the devastating impact of EAB on ash trees here in most of Illinois and the Midwest, it is not uncommon to still observe numerous ash seedlings and saplings (from suckers and seed).

White ash (Fraxinus americana) is a light seeded species whose fruit, a samara, is wind-dispersed. White ash is also dioecious, meaning that only female trees are capable of producing fruit and when they do produce fruit (i.e., seed), it is usually a lot of fruit.

Hello, I have been experiencing similar white and green ash growth on a preserve I work at in Athens, Ohio. The ash saplings are constanly encroaching on our trails, we basically treat them like an invasive species at this point. There are no mature ash trees that I know of on the property. I was just wondering why they are so aggressive and where they keep coming from.

We also have a few small populations of blue ash that are just as aggressive.

Ash tree species are typically very opportunistic and will readily colonize areas with adequate light availability. You often then ash saplings dominating roadsides in the Midwest. As ash trees decline from Emerald Ash Borer feeding, they often increase their seed production, so it is common to see big waves of ash seedlings in areas that are experiencing declines in overstory ash trees. Ash fruit are wind-disperses and can move long distances.