I lost a few oaks (post oaks, white oaks) to Hypoxylon Canker this year and am wondering about trying to harvest some of that wood for woodworking and/or framing projects. I've read that Hypoxylon Canker lives under the bark, so once the bark has been milled away, would the tree's inner wood be considered safe or unsafe/diseased? Would I risk spreading the Canker to healthy trees by moving the milled wood to new areas?
Hypoxylon Canker in Oaks - should affected trees be harvested for their wood?
- Thread starter cmayo
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The deal is the wood would have to be removed without damage to other trees and milled away from any other trees. It's a spore producing fungus and other trees around it may also be infected. Hypoxylon can be present in healthy trees and never manifest, as long as the tree maintains its vigor.
Once Hypoxylon attacks the tree there is no known control method. The best control is actually prevention. The presence of Hypoxylon often indicates that there are other severe stress elements present. If those stresses can be identified, they may be able to be mitigated or reduced.
If one tree is affected by those stresses it is possible that surrounding trees are also being affected.
Man made damage to the tree can also cause Hypoxylon infection, we see this where hardwood forest have been burned and damage to trees have occurred. The Tree is under stress from the damage and the Hypoxylon spores may enter where the damage has occurred.
Once Hypoxylon attacks the tree there is no known control method. The best control is actually prevention. The presence of Hypoxylon often indicates that there are other severe stress elements present. If those stresses can be identified, they may be able to be mitigated or reduced.
If one tree is affected by those stresses it is possible that surrounding trees are also being affected.
Man made damage to the tree can also cause Hypoxylon infection, we see this where hardwood forest have been burned and damage to trees have occurred. The Tree is under stress from the damage and the Hypoxylon spores may enter where the damage has occurred.
Hypoxylon is almost universally fatal, with no known treatment or preventative that I know of. As far as milling, the wood turns insanely dry and brittle almost overnight. I have had 6 inch limbs snap under me while climbing, very sketchy wood. I'm not sure how it would mill, but I certainly wouldn't trust it for framing.
I hadn't considered that milling the wood would disperse the canker spores but it makes sense now that you point it out. Thanks!
My assumption was that if the trees were alive last year, the wood probably wasn't too far gone this year but good to know in advance that it's probably not worth messing with. Thanks!
These are wild/native trees in central Texas, with 100-degree-plus summers and pretty much zero summer rainfall. I wondered why there were so many dead trees (~35) on the 1.5 acre lot I bought eight years ago, but I suppose that question has been answered now. I sure hate to lose those trees, though.
Thanks again guys, I really appreciate having the benefit of your experience.
Hypoxylon can infect not only the trunk, but can start in the limbs and the forks of the limbs. Anywhere the spore lands and there is a wound in the tree the infection can start. Insects can also spread the spore along with birds and wind. A Woodpecker can wound the tree and that can open the door for infection. We deal with Pine Pitch Canker on the same level and the outcome is about the same. When doing a prescribed burn at night where Pine Pitch Canker has infected the forest it sometimes looks like 100's of little candles burning in the night on the raw pitch after the fire went through.
If you have a milling rig, run a piece through and let us know how it turns out. I still don't think you would want to use it for anything structural, but it would be interesting to see what effects the disease has on the wood as far as interesting grain patterns or such for tables, etc.
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