# Why did my mountain ash not blossom this year?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-mountain-ash-not-blossom-this-year/593568>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 21, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-mountain-ash-not-blossom-this-year/593568 "2011-08-21T21:10:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-mountain-ash-not-blossom-this-year/593568/1 "2011-08-21T21:10:46Z")

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So in addition to having a [rotten ash hole](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=619749), I just realised the other day that my mountain ash didn’t blossom this year, so no clusters of red berries now, unlike all the other mountains ashes in the neighbourhood.

How come? my mother-in-law, who farmed all her life, has suggested a late frost may have killed the blossoms. I suppose that’s possible, but I don’t remember a late frost.

We also had a lot of yard work done last year, in which the Mad Max guy operating the bobcat took a significant nick out of the bark on the tree, and we also had trenching for a new yard light - could all of that have stressed the ash tree?

In any event, I’ll pound in some fertilizer stakes - maybe it needs a bit of extra help.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-mountain-ash-not-blossom-this-year/593568/2 "2011-08-22T04:46:00Z")

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My first thought was late frost, too, but is it possible that your extensive yard work has disturbed the roots of the tree?

Your rotting ash hole isn’t good - it sounds like you have a really unhealthy tree there. I’d advise calling an arborist for it, too - it might not be save-able.

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-mountain-ash-not-blossom-this-year/593568/3 "2012-06-06T13:07:12Z")

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Update: well, it seems to have recovered. It blossomed yesterday, so maybe the fertilizer stakes did the trick.