According to this site, "Modesto ash has a 50-year life span, 60 or 70 years, if well cared for."

Brenda

Aren't they pretty? We have one that was planted in 1964. I hope it lives a good long time. I always plant up some seedlings to share. You have to have the room however because they grow really fast. I would have several acres of them if I could. If that tree ever passes away, I'm going to try to get someone to make a table for me from its wood.

I have a large Modesto Ash on my front lawn that I assume was planted around when my house was built (1957). It is a pretty tree but unfortunately it always gets infested with Mistletoe. The Modesto Ash is no longer a recommened tree at least here around Sacramento area for this reason. They are very prone to parasitic Mistloe and you can see so many of these trees covered in it during the winter when the leaves are gone. For safety reasons I am planning to cut mine down in the fall since it very close to my house and re plant with a different smaller type tree.

I planted mine in 1979 when Disco ruled and i was 165 pounds with longish hair. All that is gone but that stick of a tree is huge!..A love/hate thing. Impressive looking yet the shade can be overpowering in a urban yard if you dont get tough with the chainsaw and tree saw. One other positive is that they dont lift cement walks like other large comparable trees do.
There was a period in the 80s or early 90s when Ash whitefly hit the state and did in fact kill a second Modesto ash i had planted that was then even larger. Tree's were sickly looking and dropped leaves all summer. The introduction of a wasp parasite was an amazing thing to live through..to see before your eyes billions of whitefly just vanish and to this day the Ash whitefly is still held in check.

So from all the posts here it seems like my Modesto Ash is not going to be around for much longer.

Yeah, it is a pretty tree. It is on the northern side of our house and provides shade so our cooling bills are minimal. Therefore we indeed value the tree; however we are planning a project and trying to figure if the tree will live long enough so the project needs be planned around it! It seems that the tree is not going to live much longer....just made our decisions a lot harder.

Anyways, thanks everyone who replied.

I don't think there is any reason to expect a healthy tree to die anytime soon. Trees con't have the same sorts of lifespan limitations as animals, and a healthy tree could continue to be healthy for a couple of decades, at least, I expect. ALthough the average lifespan of Modesto Ash might be 50 years, I am sure many live twice that long, and others somewhat shorter.

Is the modesto ash poison to any farm animal?

I saw on another site that the lifespan can be up to 100-150 years. Good thing since mine is @ 50 years old and shows no sign of declining anytime soon. I love my ash when the leaves turn that beautiful bright yellow. The delicate lacy look of the leaves and delicate branch structure. If you need a big shade tree that does not need lots of water, this tree is a beautiful choice. I wish I had the space to plant a grove of these golden trees.

Selectree says 50-150 years.

Here is a link that might be useful: modesto ash

Its been 8 years since this post? I would have guessed 3 or 4. I do know though that my 37 year old tree looks healthy...but here we are on April 19th and its only begun to grow leafs on some branches.

Now that it actually looks heirloom like is it telling me its already winding down? Yet,not a thing wrong looking at it...no mites,thrips..no sign of fungus in the tree or at the ground.

But it is as airy as a Japanese maple.

Is it in leaf now?

No, it's just about sprouting leaves. But I am in SF Bay Area, I think you are in Sierra Foothills so your tree will follow my tree's schedule by ~2 weeks or so.

We've hardly ever watered it -- including last few years during drought.

lol,No, I'm in Hayward..so we are on the same schedule. Dang,my neighbor (tenant renter) across the street has 4 large Ash...all are in almost full leaf. Then,another has the evergreen Ash- a REALLY great looking tree all year with a nice slightly fluted trunk. Sort of tropical looking.

Well, I really appreciate homey your information..I was starting to worry about my M.A.

thanks!

I'm glad the whiteflies are managed now. I remember how the tree suffered with the whiteflies and all the sticky goo they left on everything under the tree. I kept watering it and thinking Hang On, Hang On! Ours has fresh young green leaves now and had a bath yesterday from an unusual May rain. We went to Yosemite a few weeks ago and it's nice to see full grown trees along the roads that havent been chopped at

like our city trees have been. I try to let my ash have as much of its natural growth as I can. I just trim what goes over onto the neighbors yard and anything that has died or looks weak like it would break in the wind. My favorite time of year besides the green spring leaves is the intense yellow in the late day sun and the yellow leaves fluttering down in the breeze when the tree is going to rest. Did any of you name your trees? I named mine Paul.

No,but I have to prune mine to allow any garden to exist below it. I think it still looks plenty large..furrowed bark,and I still can't get over sometimes that I planted that big tree in 1978 or so. I should name it "Disco Dave".

btw- It filled in fast after being the last tree in town. It will also be the first to start shedding. If you want a shade tree that gives you plenty of cool weather sun,this is it.

"Disco Dave" is funny, stan! Just as a warning, the Raywood Ash trees have an inherent weakness that has been discovered in the past few years. We just cut down one of ours (10-15 years old) that could grow only tufts of leaves on the ends of some branches this spring. The other two have dying branches all the time and are beginning to look pretty thin. Wish we had known this- we really need the shade in summer.

Over here on the Peninsula, we see a lot of "London Planetrees" -- nice exfoliating barks, large, maple-like leaves, deciduous, apparently the roots go deep and do not ruin sidewalks or patios. Heard that City of Palo Alto has it as "officially recommended street tree". Since Min3 is searching for a nice long living tree, he/she might consider this one. I personally love these trees. If I did not already have my Ash covering more than half of my front lawn, then I'd get this one. Large tree with huge canopy and fast growing. Hope this helps.

Here it is with plants mounted on it. I noticed that small branches had nice orange,white, Lichens on then..so I put my Broms on them.

We will see how it goes.

Those mounted plants look awesome. I tried to mount orchids a few years back. Sadly I could not keep up with the demands of watering them everyday (during peak summer) and they perished. But it's been my dream to mount broms or orchids on my tree someday!!