Oak Wilt

[maggies dad]

I received a call from so folks that have about 200 acres that got hit with Oak Wilt pretty hard. They want to take out all the dead trees, but are scared that the wilt is going to get spread further.
When the wilt was originally found they trenched and treated the trees with Alamo, and then promply lost all the trees within the boundry of the trench. I explained that once the tree has Oak Wilt that treatment is not very likely to stop it, and that the trees within the trenched area are very likely to die.
This all happened 2-3 yrs ago and I was not involved, but judging by the tree tags every other tree company in the county was.All the standing dead trees are losing there bark and are stone cold dead. There are also a few trees that appear to have Oak decline in close proximity. I can find no sign of active Oak Wilt any where on the property. So my question is have any of yall heard of or had any problem with removing the dead trees, and do you think it would be a problem to dead wood the declining trees? I have my opinions but I know there is alot of things I dont know, I really dont want to screw this one up cause this could be a huge contract for me. Thanks for the help
Jeff

 

[FJR]

Did the trees you want to deadwood have preventative alamo treatments? Did the trenching + alamo save the trees you mentioned?

You will most definitely want to do the trimming in the dormant season.

 

[maggies dad]

FJR The trenching and Alamo doesnt look like it saved any of the trees that were already affected. There are some trees that were treated as a precaution they look fine. The trees that need deadwooding have not been treated. I know that if the tree is alive and infected with grafted root and you cut it down you can speed up the spread of Oak Wilt. I dont have any ideal if the root system is an issue on dead trees. One of the weird things is that there will be 3-4 dead trees in a mott and the rest look great. I was surprised that only a few Red Oaks were affected, and they are spread all through where the wilt hit the worst.

 

[FJR]

That is interesting. Usually the Rad Oak's are the first to go. The White Oak family has Tyloses as a defense mechanism to help slow the spread of a pathogen through it's system, usually takes longer for them to completely die.

What part of the country are you located in?

 

[maggies dad]

FJR, Im in North Texas, about 20 min west of Fort Worth. Yep, Im with you, I figured all the Red Oaks would be dead, but that sure isn't the case. I just want to make sure what ever I do I don't cause any of them to die.
Part of the problem I am having is that we had a pretty bad drought last year, and that alone caused a lot of trees to die, and get sick. The owners are convinced that every sick tree on the property is due to Oak Wilt, and I have my work cut out for me trying to find answers, and explaining things. I understand where they are coming from though, If I lost 50 oaks that I could see from my house I would proble be a little on edge about the whole deal too.

 

[arborworks1]

What I've noticed in my area. Oak wilt starts the trees on a downward spiral and hypoxlon canker does them in. To an extent trenching exacerbates the hypoxlon case. We don't have near the cases of wilt that Texas has though

 

[maggies dad]

Arborworks1 I did see some hypoxlon around the area where the trenching took place, and out about 50-75 yards from there. What do you think would be the best and safest way to remove the dead trees, and possible the diseased trees. There is no real treatment for Hypoxlon. Correct?

 

[arborworks1]

Oak wilt moves 3 different ways. Bleeding cankers release spores, beetles can carry spores on their body. And last but not least is the root graft transmission. I would get the diseased trees out asap. The standing dead trees aren't a threat for transmission anymore. Make sure you sanitize your gear after working them as well.

 

[maggies dad]

Arborworks1, Thanks, I really appreciate the insight. I have been a little nervous about this job, cause if anything goes bad as far as the wilt it could be really bad. I have worked on Oak wilt trees before but not on this scale. If I remove all the sick and dead trees it will be close to 100 trees. If I messed it up it could take out literally 100s of acres of oaks. I just really wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing before I dove off into it. I have a meeting with the owners coming up to discuss every thing and finalize the deal, so hopefully everything goes well. Thanks again
Jeff

 

[treetx]

Jeff -

Good luck and my .02.

I do have a degree in forest science from TX A&M and my forest pathology prof was Dr. Appel, OW guru. Oak wilt is what got me into trees work.

I have tons of experience with injections.

Without actual signs of vienal necrosis from dying L.O. trees, it is hard to diagnose.

Hypoxylon is in every case an ambient secondary agent. It kills trees but only after something else has taken them to the point that one foot is in the grave (drought).

I don't know why you would chose to dead wood the declining trees. It won't help their longevity and may actually create new infection sites.

Good luck with it.

 

[maggies dad]

Thanks for the insight treetx. I was trying to send you a messae but your inbox is full.

 

[treetx]

Ha, so now I know why I never get any PMs. Feel free to email me any time at treeamigo at gmail.com

Nate

 

[MasterBlaster]

Orrrrrrrr, just clear your PMs.