Oak Wilt; my rant

[Kevin]

Some of y'all complain about squirrels and other pests, chipmunks and such. They are annoying, but Oak Wilt is far more annoying. Not much you can do about it either. Last summer we had a tree die from it. Literally within a month all the leaves shriveled up, turned brown and fell off. It was a big tree up close to the house. We had the other trees in the yard treated so they wouldn't get the disease. But nope, one did anyway. Another big tree in the front yard. Half of it is dead already, and like I said apparently after you see signs of oak wilt it is too late to do anything.

We didn't plant another tree in place of the first one after it was cut down, but we will for this second tree. A good sturdy Maple.

This is just a good example of why it's important to plant local, native plants which do best in the specific climate. When we bought the house, the landscaping had a lot of plants which required a massive amount of water. Luckily my wife loves to garden and we've slowly switched all the plants around the house to Texas native plants which do better, take less water and are more disease resistant. However this wouldn't have saved the oak tree, which I know is more or less local to Texas.

Anyway, that's my rant. Getting a big tree cut down is about the same cost as a pretty nice revolver, even more. I talked with the guy today, it's a reputable company, he said he would refund the treatment from last summer since it obviously didn't work... Which was nice, I hadn't even thought about it.

Before we moved to Texas I had never even heard of Oak Wilt. We've never had any tree problems like this. Of course we don't have dandelions here at all. Not like Chicago. Our yard was literally covered in yellow. My dad used to make dandilion wine back in Missouri, but that is another story...

 

[coach]

Don't feel like you're alone. It's gotten into the oaks in Maryland too. The main problem that I see is it seems to attack old established trees. Twenty years ago we had gypsy moths that attacked oaks and killed a lot. Good move working on going to native plants.

 

[Kevin]

I didn't know about that. I did hear some oak trees up in Minnesota were infected with the oak wilt. The tree expert I talked to today is more scientist than anything. He started on a rant about all sorts of diseases in plants, then non native diseases carried in by different means. It was pretty interesting and informative.

But yes, the native plants have done very well. We had a Yucca bloom earlier this spring. It was very pretty...and they are colorful too! Not drab and boring at all.

 

[toysoldier]

If you want a tree that isn't affected by disease, check out the living fossil ginkgo.

https://kwanten.home.xs4all.nl/

They're expensive, slow-growing, but very pretty, and resistant to just about everything, including pollution. Chinese tradition says they protect an adjacent structure from lightning.

 

[coach]

If you get a ginkgo be sure to get a male. The females have smelly fruit.

 

[Jim Puke]

The pests you mention are a lot more than annoying...they are just as destructive as Oak Wilt.

 

[Kevin]

Thanks, but there is a guy here in DFW, he has "designed" a maple tree to be sturdy enough to survive Texas. http://www.metromaples.com I just looked at their website, they have some ginkgo trees too it looks like... But his maple tree has a patent, kind of funny.

 

[CLAYPOOL]

Here in Southern Illinois there is a lot of Oaks dying with those large "Oak Gall, Balls" on them. They are slightly bigger than a golf ball and brown to black in color.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Well I don't known about the rest of the country with all those other trees. I do know that out Live Oaks Laugh at all that disease stuff. Why plant a Maple when Live Oaks rule. In South Texas they are only around 200-300 years old :D Don't send Oak Wilt down here

 

[Kevin]

The two trees of mine were live oaks.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

The two trees of mine were live oaks.

OK so HOW do all of the Live Oaks out in the woods make it to 200-300 years old. Do a little research and you will find that one is a few years old.
The trunk of The Big Tree is over 35 feet (10.7 meters) in circumference and it is 44 feet (13.4 meters) tall. The Big Tree is estimated to be over 1,000 years old and up to 2,000 years old.

 

[ChiefMuzz]

The two trees of mine were live oaks.

OK so HOW do all of the Live Oaks out in the woods make it to 200-300 years old. Do a little research and you will find that one is a few years old.
The trunk of The Big Tree is over 35 feet (10.7 meters) in circumference and it is 44 feet (13.4 meters) tall. The Big Tree is estimated to be over 1,000 years old and up to 2,000 years old.

I'm not a biologist but my guess is they live that long by not getting Oak Wilt. :D

 

[GunnyGene]

Not a Live Oak, but I have a healthy ~300 yo White Oak (Quercus Alba). About 5' dia & ~80' tall. You can get a rough estimate of age for several common species here (non-invasive): http://forestry.about.com/od/silviculture/a/Estimating-A-Trees-Age.htm

I should also mention that there are several species of "Live" oak. http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/oak,%20live.htm

A couple pics of my baby :wink: :

 

[Kevin]

Jim, I'm in agreement with you, I know some trees can live to be that old. But from my experience and very limited experience with oak wilt, it can be transferred from one tree to the next, thus the disease went from the first sick tree to the healthy tree. We just didn't get it treated in time. It's a liquid antibiotic for the tree. It keeps the oak wilt from killing the tree. The disease will however continue to circulate in the tree and could go on to another tree through connected root systems and kill another tree.

Before we moved into this house, our neighbor had a tree die from oak wilt, and another two houses away to the other side. All these trees can possibly be sharing the same root system. Yes, even two houses away.

So I guess I would agree, the Oak trees live to be old by not getting any diseases. Live oak, red oak, no matter. But an Ash tree will not get Oak Wilt. Our third tree in the front yard is an old Ash.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

The two trees of mine were live oaks.

OK so HOW do all of the Live Oaks out in the woods make it to 200-300 years old. Do a little research and you will find that one is a few years old.
The trunk of The Big Tree is over 35 feet (10.7 meters) in circumference and it is 44 feet (13.4 meters) tall. The Big Tree is estimated to be over 1,000 years old and up to 2,000 years old.

I'm not a biologist but my guess is they live that long by not getting Oak Wilt. :D

Now that right there is funny I don't care who you are :D

 

[coach]

So I guess I would agree, the Oak trees live to be old by not getting any diseases. Live oak, red oak, no matter. But an Ash tree will not get Oak Wilt. Our third tree in the front yard is an old Ash.

But the ash tree can get the emerald ash borer that will cause it to decline over a number of years dying limb by limb. I lost one to the pest and I see them dying all around. Imported from Asia like the stink bugs that got loose from imported wood pallets that bother households and farmers

 

[Phoenix too]

In the 1600's the Chestnut made up about 25% of the deciduous trees in the New England forests. They're gone (but for efforts to breed a hybrid version, which is looking like it might be successful.)

In the 1900's American Elms graced many a New England town's main streets. They are nearly gone now, but work is being done to come up with trees that are resistant to the blight.

The Ash, as has been pointed out, is being wiped out by the Emerald Ash Borer. Work is being done using imported wasps to get the borer. The jury is still out on this attempt.

Other New England hardwoods are under incredible pressure from Gypsy Moths and Winter Moths. Our big silver maple has lost about 75-85% of its leaves to the latter. Hopefully, being healthy, it will be able to put out a second set, which might come out in time for peak Gypsy Moth...

All of the above diseases/bugs were imports.

This week I learned of still another import, this one is attacking White Pines.

I figure, when all this is said and done, we'll be down to poison ivy and mosquitoes... One might thank that, after the Elms were decimated by Dutch Elm disease in the 50's, we might do a better job controlling what comes into this country...

 

[Mike J]

Okay now I have to go do a search on Oak Wilt. Y'all have posted about some things I knew nothing about. The only problem we ever had with trees was japanese beetles got into some cedar trees around the house I grew up in. Most of them died. The lot where I live now is covered with Water Oaks, Red Oaks, Poplar, Sweet Gum & Pine trees. That is just off the top of my head. I'm sure I left something out. I actually picked this lot because of the trees. All the others I was being shown didn't have any.