Recovery of Ash Tree from Herbicide

Lilly

Hello,

I am asking for advice on rescue of my 25+ year old tree. I have two green ash trees that were put on my front lawn in 1982.

Last year or the year before I must have accidentally gotten some herbicide (24D I think, I used the lawn spray for Weed & Feed) on one of my trees. In Spring 2007 after spraying the lawn this tree did not look like it was budding.
It could have been this year or the previous year's application that caused this.

We gave it lots of water last year and then the empty branches did eventually get leaves all except for a topical branch right at the top. Now this year in Spring 2008 only one lower branch developed leaves and there was a lot of new growth of small branches on the lower end of the trunk.
But all of the rest of the branches looked bare. We have been giving it lots of water and now many of the bare branches are starting to leaf. When we compare this sick tree with the other tree it seems to be about 6 - 8 weeks behind in it's leaf development.

So now what should I do? Research on the internet tells me to give it lots of water and fertilizer but a local arborist said not to give it fertilizer so I'm confused.

Can I save this tree? I am hoping that as long as we water and fertilize it that new branches will develop and it can recover.

I've read that the tree may eventually die because each year the leaves will develop later and later until the tree does not have a long enough growing season before the winter frost.

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks.

Lilly