I was wondering what was going on with one of my oaks. I actually think another oak we had died from it too. We had that one taken down and this current one is about 10 feet or so from the one we had taken down. Leaves are going brown and falling to the ground and the top of the tree has no leaves.
What's killing the oaks?
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From southern Wisconsin here. My property has oak wilt--in the red oaks. When we first moved onto the property, a state forester responded to my request to visit and assess "my woods." (First thing he did on arrival was say, "We had a good laugh at the office over your voicemail: typically, we save our assessments for people with 100 acres or more." Umm, blush, my "acreage" is somewhat less than even double figures...)
But, he came, saying "I can give you 10 minutes." after which we sprinted--uphill--through the woods as he pointed out things like "red oaks are beyond their useful 25-year lifespan, take them out to make room for these young white oaks and walnuts; you've got hickory and hackberry, good, not commercial but good; this is oak savannah, mixture of oak trees and grassland, good, increasingly rare; this is prickly ash, invasive, pull it out by the roots, it'll come right out in its weak direction; white oaks' lifespan is more like 100 years; white oaks fenceposts also good for 100 years; don't use red oak for fenceposts..." and other stuff I'll remember later on...
The forester explained that oak wilt onset is sudden with the tree dying within two weeks of showing the first stress. He also said that the roots of red oaks will fuse together when they encounter each other underground and thus share the load of finding nutrition. I was told they don't fuse with white oaks' roots and white oaks don't do that with each other. It would explain why oak wilt spreads so fast in one and not the other. I was also told that the BEST way to infect a tree with oak wilt is to CUT IT WHILE IT'S GREEN as the fungus is air-borne. Although I was the ignorant culprit who introduced oak wilt into my neighborhood by cutting off a limb over-hanging the yard, in high summer, I console myself with the fact that there are a dozen red oaks in mine and the neighbor's woods that were snapped off in high winds about 15 or 20 feet up. It was gonna happen. The prescription for preventing oak-wilt spread is, according to the forester, dig a 24-in deep trench around the tree "at the drip line."
That simply is not happening; anymore than pulling up every single prickly ash infestation, although I do enjoy every-so-often, when I went into the woods for something else, pulling up every prickly ash within 50 feet, just to make "someplace" free. (Prickly ash have notoriously shallow roots that suck up EVERY bit of moisture BEFORE anything else, like young native saplings, get a chance. They also send up scions every six feet or so. I've pulled up "strings" of ash-and-scion roots longer than 20 feet... Of course, they also load up with berries that birds love to eat--and spread. Hyper-invasive; that's what they are.
On the oak-wilt side, I place hope in my father's observation about the disappearance of tulip poplars on his homeplace in southern Indiana. He grew up with them being everywhere then watched them slowly disappear in his middle age where he never saw them, to seeing them re-establish themselves in his old age. I've come to agree with him that some species have cycles. But of course some disappear forever, so we look to ourselves to do what we can--like NOT CUTTING OAKS UNTIL THE SAP IS DOWN
But, he came, saying "I can give you 10 minutes." after which we sprinted--uphill--through the woods as he pointed out things like "red oaks are beyond their useful 25-year lifespan, take them out to make room for these young white oaks and walnuts; you've got hickory and hackberry, good, not commercial but good; this is oak savannah, mixture of oak trees and grassland, good, increasingly rare; this is prickly ash, invasive, pull it out by the roots, it'll come right out in its weak direction; white oaks' lifespan is more like 100 years; white oaks fenceposts also good for 100 years; don't use red oak for fenceposts..." and other stuff I'll remember later on...
The forester explained that oak wilt onset is sudden with the tree dying within two weeks of showing the first stress. He also said that the roots of red oaks will fuse together when they encounter each other underground and thus share the load of finding nutrition. I was told they don't fuse with white oaks' roots and white oaks don't do that with each other. It would explain why oak wilt spreads so fast in one and not the other. I was also told that the BEST way to infect a tree with oak wilt is to CUT IT WHILE IT'S GREEN as the fungus is air-borne. Although I was the ignorant culprit who introduced oak wilt into my neighborhood by cutting off a limb over-hanging the yard, in high summer, I console myself with the fact that there are a dozen red oaks in mine and the neighbor's woods that were snapped off in high winds about 15 or 20 feet up. It was gonna happen. The prescription for preventing oak-wilt spread is, according to the forester, dig a 24-in deep trench around the tree "at the drip line."
That simply is not happening; anymore than pulling up every single prickly ash infestation, although I do enjoy every-so-often, when I went into the woods for something else, pulling up every prickly ash within 50 feet, just to make "someplace" free. (Prickly ash have notoriously shallow roots that suck up EVERY bit of moisture BEFORE anything else, like young native saplings, get a chance. They also send up scions every six feet or so. I've pulled up "strings" of ash-and-scion roots longer than 20 feet... Of course, they also load up with berries that birds love to eat--and spread. Hyper-invasive; that's what they are.
On the oak-wilt side, I place hope in my father's observation about the disappearance of tulip poplars on his homeplace in southern Indiana. He grew up with them being everywhere then watched them slowly disappear in his middle age where he never saw them, to seeing them re-establish themselves in his old age. I've come to agree with him that some species have cycles. But of course some disappear forever, so we look to ourselves to do what we can--like NOT CUTTING OAKS UNTIL THE SAP IS DOWN
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I had my trees (no forest, just residential) assessed for safety for my home last summer. They were also cleaned up a bit (lower branches taken off).
Unfortunately this was in June, and most of them are red oaks, 1.5-4 ft in diameter.
This was done by a very good arborist, not some companies with guys with a chainsaw.
I did not know about oak wilt until this thread.
I wonder if arborists should warn folks "let's do this after November so that we don't endanger the trees"...
Unfortunately this was in June, and most of them are red oaks, 1.5-4 ft in diameter.
This was done by a very good arborist, not some companies with guys with a chainsaw.
I did not know about oak wilt until this thread.
I wonder if arborists should warn folks "let's do this after November so that we don't endanger the trees"...
I’ve been thinking of having someone come out and take a look at my 23 acres. Did this assessment cost anything? Who exactly did you contact?From southern Wisconsin here. My property has oak wilt--in the red oaks. When we first moved onto the property, a state forester responded to my request to visit and assess "my woods." (First thing he did on arrival was say, "We had a good laugh at the office over your voicemail: typically, we save our assessments for people with 100 acres or more." Umm, blush, my "acreage" is somewhat less than even double figures...)
But, he came, saying "I can give you 10 minutes." after which we sprinted--uphill--through the woods as he pointed out things like "red oaks are beyond their useful 25-year lifespan, take them out to make room for these young white oaks and walnuts; you've got hickory and hackberry, good, not commercial but good; this is oak savannah, mixture of oak trees and grassland, good, increasingly rare; this is prickly ash, invasive, pull it out by the roots, it'll come right out in its weak direction; white oaks' lifespan is more like 100 years; white oaks fenceposts also good for 100 years; don't use red oak for fenceposts..." and other stuff I'll remember later on...
The forester explained that oak wilt onset is sudden with the tree dying within two weeks of showing the first stress. He also said that the roots of red oaks will fuse together when they encounter each other underground and thus share the load of finding nutrition. I was told they don't fuse with white oaks' roots and white oaks don't do that with each other. It would explain why oak wilt spreads so fast in one and not the other. I was also told that the BEST way to infect a tree with oak wilt is to CUT IT WHILE IT'S GREEN as the fungus is air-borne. Although I was the ignorant culprit who introduced oak wilt into my neighborhood by cutting off a limb over-hanging the yard, in high summer, I console myself with the fact that there are a dozen red oaks in mine and the neighbor's woods that were snapped off in high winds about 15 or 20 feet up. It was gonna happen. The prescription for preventing oak-wilt spread is, according to the forester, dig a 24-in deep trench around the tree "at the drip line."
That simply is not happening; anymore than pulling up every single prickly ash infestation, although I do enjoy every-so-often, when I went into the woods for something else, pulling up every prickly ash within 50 feet, just to make "someplace" free. (Prickly ash have notoriously shallow roots that suck up EVERY bit of moisture BEFORE anything else, like young native saplings, get a chance. They also send up scions every six feet or so. I've pulled up "strings" of ash-and-scion roots longer than 20 feet... Of course, they also load up with berries that birds love to eat--and spread. Hyper-invasive; that's what they are.
On the oak-wilt side, I place hope in my father's observation about the disappearance of tulip poplars on his homeplace in southern Indiana. He grew up with them being everywhere then watched them slowly disappear in his middle age where he never saw them, to seeing them re-establish themselves in his old age. I've come to agree with him that some species have cycles. But of course some disappear forever, so we look to ourselves to do what we can--like NOT CUTTING OAKS UNTIL THE SAP IS DOWN
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