"Mike Marlow" wrote in message
...

Yeahbut in his woods, even with a well thinned woods, the trees are still
competing for nutrients and for sunlight.

Exactly, that too. I was under the impression that the OP would possibly
grow trees for firewood and would probably put some effort into planting
correctly. Using a setting like Dave mentioned was not a good example of
how fast an Ash tree would grow for this purpose.

Lawn trees don't face this trial.
Trees in the woods tend to grow taller as they search for the sun.

I have a 5 year old Live Oak in my back yard with a trunk that is 5" in
diameter. The tree came up naturally in a crowded spot. Crowded by a
fence, shrubs, and 12' tall bushes on the other side of the fence. Plus
the Live Oak is coming up under an old Mulberry tree. Since it came up from
a seed 5 years ago it grew straight up. Last fall I took the Mulberry tree
out so that the Live oak can begin spreading out. The lowest limb is about
10' from the ground and the tree stands about 20 tall.