Fairly simple, uneducated question here. I honestly don't know. We had
a mountain ash that lived some 20-odd years. Over the last few years
the tree had slowly been on the wane; compounded by serious drought in
our area. We finally cut it down this spring. Over the course of it's
life, we dutifully cut the suckers growing from the base of the tree.
What I'm wondering, is whether the suckers, if selectively cut and the
healthiest left to grow, actually grow into a mature tree? If not, is
there a problem in trying to grow another from a cutting (or
otherwise) in the same area? A reply on a garden web forum indicates
propogation fir this tree is limited to seed or grafting. Has anyone
any experience doing this?

Thanks for any and all.
--

Monroe

The message
from Monroe contains these words:

Fairly simple, uneducated question here. I honestly don't know. We had
a mountain ash that lived some 20-odd years. Over the last few years
the tree had slowly been on the wane; compounded by serious drought in
our area. We finally cut it down this spring. Over the course of it's
life, we dutifully cut the suckers growing from the base of the tree.
What I'm wondering, is whether the suckers, if selectively cut and the
healthiest left to grow, actually grow into a mature tree?

Yes. They are native here in Scotland. Cut stumps regrow into an
attractive multi-stemmed vase-shaped tree; just choose how many stems
you want.

A reply on a garden web forum indicates
propogation fir this tree is limited to seed or grafting. Has anyone
any experience doing this?

Growing them from seed is very easy. Wait till the berries are really
ripe then rub them in a fine (kitchen) seive under a running tap, to
wash off the fleshy bit and skin, leaving the seeds behind; spread them
on a kitchen towel to dry off. Then I put them in a small ziplok plastic
envelope with a spoonful of moist sand or peat, and leave it cool in the
fridge (not freezer) until March. Sow in a pot outdoors, and they come
up like cress. Seedling trees grow very fast, I'd have a 5ft tree in 4
years and (depending on variety) it could be flowering and fruiting at
6. YMMV depending on climate.

Janet.

Thanks. Very informative.

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 20:56:27 +0100, Janet Baraclough..
wrote:

The message
from Monroe contains these words:

Fairly simple, uneducated question here. I honestly don't know. We had
a mountain ash that lived some 20-odd years. Over the last few years
the tree had slowly been on the wane; compounded by serious drought in
our area. We finally cut it down this spring. Over the course of it's
life, we dutifully cut the suckers growing from the base of the tree.
What I'm wondering, is whether the suckers, if selectively cut and the
healthiest left to grow, actually grow into a mature tree?

Yes. They are native here in Scotland. Cut stumps regrow into an
attractive multi-stemmed vase-shaped tree; just choose how many stems
you want.

A reply on a garden web forum indicates
propogation fir this tree is limited to seed or grafting. Has anyone
any experience doing this?

Growing them from seed is very easy. Wait till the berries are really
ripe then rub them in a fine (kitchen) seive under a running tap, to
wash off the fleshy bit and skin, leaving the seeds behind; spread them
on a kitchen towel to dry off. Then I put them in a small ziplok plastic
envelope with a spoonful of moist sand or peat, and leave it cool in the
fridge (not freezer) until March. Sow in a pot outdoors, and they come
up like cress. Seedling trees grow very fast, I'd have a 5ft tree in 4
years and (depending on variety) it could be flowering and fruiting at
6. YMMV depending on climate.

Janet.

--

Monroe

Worked well for me.
As my mountain ash began to decline due to borers and cankers and such
I grew a broomstick thick sucker up behind it and carefully removed
the main tree.
It had the advantage of an entire root system.
Only mistake I made was in not pinching the top a bit to promote
branching lower down. the new tree is perhaps 5" in diameter now and
has no lower branches for the first 8 ft.
Because these trees are so disease prone here I keep a sucker or two
in reserve.
I bet they would coppice very well.
zone 6 CT USA

We are having the same problem, & the whole tree will probably have to be cut
down in a year or two. Mountain ash is not particularly long lived. I don't
think trying to grow it from a sucker or cutting would have helped, because it
appears to be dying from an opportunistic fungus. I would not plant another
mountain ash in the same location.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)