Oak Wilt

All current  and future home owners in Central Texas should be knowledgeable about this disease that threatens the beautiful live oaks and red oaks that form a shady, green canopy over the Austin area. Over the past twenty years, Austin has lost more than 10,000 oaks to the deadly and infectious oak wilt disease. For both individuals and the city as a whole, this loss is felt by increased utility bills, reduced property values, and a sense of devastation.

Oak wilt is a major tree disease caused by the fungus, Ceratocystis fagacearum.. Infected live oaks usually die in three months to one year. Approximately 10 percent of the live oak population may survive for many years in various states of decline and never fully recover. Red oaks typically die very quickly, within two weeks to several months.

It is very common for oak trees to establish a system of interconnected roots. These connected roots allow the oak wilt fungus to move from tree-to-tree, often leading to patches of infected and dead trees. In fact, once one oak becomes infected, the disease can radiate outward, spreading to any oaks that share a common root system.

The disease can also be spread by beetles carrying fungal spores from diseased red oak trees to fresh wounds on healthy oaks.  A wound can be a trunk scar (from a bulldozer, lawnmower or weedeater), a torn root or even a pruning cut. Making proper pruning cuts and immediately painting the wounds significantly lowers the risk of oak wilt infection.  Hire a professional arborist to prune your trees or delay pruning until the summer or winter months. During spring, from February 1 to June 1, our oaks are most susceptible to oak wilt infection.

It is also important to be careful with firewood. Firewood from red oaks infected with oak wilt can harbor fungal spores and/or beetles carrying the fungus. As a precaution, store firewood under clear plastic and bury the edges. Clear plastic traps the insects, and unlike black plastic, the beetles cannot use light holes to escape.

Please do what you can to prevent the spread of this disease that threatens the beautiful oak trees of the Austin area.  For more information on oak wilt please go to www.ci.austin.tx.us/oakwilt/.