Withering Oak – CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

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The oak is as much an icon of the Texan landscape as the cattle and the vans. Walking through a grove of live oak trees set along a deep green pasture is a hiking bliss, I just can’t think of a more perfect tree for our landscape here.

While live oaks are more of a tree for the Hill Country and the south (the harsh February frost showed this), there is a wide variety of native species that do quite well in the North Texas landscape.

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But since 1961, a fatal disease has raged in our region and destroyed some of these magnificent trees. Withering oak.

Oak Wilt is a fungus first discovered in Dallas County. It has since spread along the I-35 corridor. It can be spread on common tree roots (traveling around 70 to 90 feet per year) or by a beetle that feeds on the fungus and spreads it to other uninfected oaks. The fungus attacks ALL varieties of oak, but some are more susceptible. Red oaks can die within 4 to 6 weeks after contracting the disease. Oak wilt can kill a living oak tree in about six months.

There is no cure, but there is prevention. This story talks about it, but probably the MOST important thing to remember is NOT to prune your oak trees during the rainy season. This means leaving the trees alone from February to the drying days of mid-June or early July.

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The fungus hates hot, dry weather. Also, any pruning cuts you make on your oak trees that you want to cover with pruning paint (or just latex paint for the exterior). This prevents the bug from landing on your healthy tree and giving it disease.

If you suspect Oak Wilt is showing up on your oak tree, get professional advice as soon as possible. If it’s a very important tree in your landscape and you catch it early, you can save it. It’s expensive but a series of fungicide injections will keep the fungus like berry.

To learn more about this disease, how to spot it, and what to do if your tree has it, please visit this website.

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I would like to thank Rachel McGregor of the Texas Tree Foundation for all of her work with her organization in the fight against this disease in North Texas. We all need to do our part to slow the spread of this fungus. Our oaks rely on us to work together.

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