As a followup to our article on Oak Wilt a few days ago, I asked the Tree Tender Nickey Bishop to drive with me to the known spots in the neighborhood with Oak Wilt. Nickey has done work for me before and I trust his judgement on trees. He graciously took over an hour and a half as we drove around looking at the neighborhood trees, stopping several times to get out and take a closer look and talk to homeowners.
The good news is that the vast majority of the oaks in the neighborhood look great. The challenge is that there are clearly oak wilt instances in three areas of the neighborhood, and homeowners in those areas should be aware of what that means to them. This is not atypical of any Austin neighborhood; Oak wilt is unfortunately an issue that affects all of Central Texas.
The other good news I took away is that treatment of trees near centers works if done as a preventative measure. We saw several examples where trees that had been treated were in good shape even near trees in distress.
As a next step, I've asked the city arborist to reconfirm one area and help me pull together a rough set of addresses that should be invited to an information/discussion session. We'll plan to do that actually in one of the centers so people can see examples. We'll schedule that in the next 2-3 weeks. At that meeting we can also discuss potential ways to act collectively.
In the meantime, please be aware that for at least the next several weeks, the beetles that can spread the disease from infected red oaks to live oaks are still around and active. Pruning wounds, wounds from construction, limbs rubbing on other trees or on your roof, or even lawn mower scrapes on large surface roots can create the sap and the opportunity that draws these beetles. This goes for everyone, regardless of whether you are near an instance or not. Don't prune without sealing, and be aware of rubbing branches or accidental gashes and seal them as well.
Note that we didn't see any infected red oaks, but that certainly doesn't mean there aren't some within beetle flying distance. If you for some reason become aware of an infected red oak (see the picture from below) please let us know.
