Your thoughts on planting ash trees (EAB; currently far away but...)

[4horses]

The empress trees I bought aren’t invasive- you are thinking of Paulownia tomentosa, not Paulownia elongata. Elongata is the sterile variety. It should stay where you plant it. If there was another shade tree that was fast growing, I would have picked it, but I need shade sooner rather then later. 115 degree heat indexes this summer. 98 degree heat indexes this week. Add bright sun to that and you are ready to melt. Added bonus that it is edible for the horses.

I tried planting pines, but waiting 10 years for them to grow just doesn’t work for me and horses won’t graze under pine trees. At least mine won’t. I tried planting oaks, but again you will be waiting a long time for those to produce any shade. I tried planting hickory trees and they died.

[B_and_B]

@cardinale

I just spoke with a nurseryman in Tucson about trees (other species) and he suggested ash. He said EAB will never survive in the desert SW so ash trees here are safe. He “learned all about EAB in college 30 years ago” and was familiar with the predictions that every ash tree will succumb eventually but was adamant that won’t happen here because it’s just too hot–EAB will never survive.

However, I know of other invasive exotic pests that supposedly weren’t going to be able to take the heat, but they adapted by finding microclimates (protected crevices in tree bark, etc.) and ride out the hot weather, so I’m skeptical of his claims. Once EAB is established in surrounding, cooler areas, if trees in the desert are spared, I’ll be convinced then.

If he learned about EAB thirty years ago… I want his time machine. It only appeared in the US around 2002-4. And no, no one had heard of it before that.