Any experience with oak wilt?

[burroak]

I think alot of our white oak and burr oak trees just got oak wilt this year. I'm having a forester come and look at them to be sure. In the meantime I thought I would see if anyone else has had to deal with oak wilt before. If so, how did the trees fair - did the trees die, or did they manage to overcome it? How did you go about removing it from your woodlot, and did you replant more oak trees? Any comments or advice?

I would hate to see these trees die. We planted a couple hundred white oaks about 20 years ago. They were doing so well, I just can't stand the thought of them dieing.

 

[S Mc]

The white oak group is generally considered resistant to oak wilt. But this does not mean they don't get it; just that they have a better chance of surviving.

I will be interested in what your forester says. In rereading some of my information on OW, it says that "Leaf drop is an important symptom because most other Oak maladies do not cause leaf drop." Interesting. What are the symptoms on your trees. Do you have pictures?

Sylvia

 

[burroak]

Thanks for your reply. I don't have pictures - I don't think I will be able to get any good pics. Basically when the leaves first came on the tree, many of the lower leaves turned black at the end of the leaf, then it worked it's way inward on the leaf. After a while the leaf would start to shrivel inward. That's where it's at right now. The leaves haven't dropped off the tree yet. The leaves that are like that are still about 1/2 green, and the other 1/2 is black and shriveled. We have a couple red oaks that have leaves in the top of the tree that are copper colored. I'm anxious for that forester to get here becuase I sure don't want to see these trees die!

 

[S Mc]

Burroak, I will be very interested in the forester's findings. The blackened lower leaves on the white oaks sounds more like antracnose to me, which is generally not a big problem. The copper colored leaves on the red oak...are these new leaves?

The fact that the leaves haven't dropped is encouraging.

Please keep us informed and good luck.

Sylvia

 

[hokiewheeler]

Your description of leaf symptoms sounds like anthracnose fungus. The trees will usually releaf on their own. Sycamore, ash and oak are more susceptible to this than others. You can treat with fungicides. Oak wilt is transmitted by a beetle and usually requires an injury to the tree. Some cities around me (N. Ohio) prohibit pruning during the summer months to prevent the spread of the fungus.

 

[Urban Forester]

As Sylvia said White Oaks have the ability to "wall off" damage and survive. Red Oaks on the other hand collapse like a deck of cards. I've seen 100 ft trees die in 3 weeks. The main vector for new infection centers is the picnic beetle, which is drawn to fresh pruning cuts and open wounds. As another poster mentioned the possibilty of Oak Anthracnose is very real, as White Oaks are very suseptible to this foliar disease. Treatment for Oak Wilt (prevention) can be expensive. The best defense is not to prune during the growing season and keep the trees as healthy as possible.

 

[burroak]

The forester looked at our trees today, and thankfully it's not oak wilt. He said it was most likely damage from some chemicals the farmers use in their field for no-till farming. He said he has the same problem with some of his trees and he lives around farms as well.

So now I can breath a big sigh of relief. Looks like the oaks will live on.