Thanks for the information. Very helpful.

The cause of the great Ash die back is the motor car along with Dutch elm disease. Here is the reason I think why. Harkening back to the great agriculturalist arther young. Cars have had a depopulating effect on the countryside meaning those that knew how to manage woodlands properly moved to the cities. The roads and intensive agriculture broke up the woodlands. This means that there aren't enough woodland fires that occur naturally. Woodland fires in the past allowed for burnt hard wood ash to be deposited in the woodland floors. This process meant that the chemical lye would ferment within the soil. Lye is a great antifungal agent. This allowed for new growth to spring up unhindered by fungus on the forest floors and made the woodlands generally more hostile to fungus. Fungus would still be present such as mycorrhizal fungi.