Oak Wilt

The first step before beginning oak wilt treatments is to establish a confident diagnosis. Identifying oak wilt is not easy. Foliar symptoms for oak wilt are the same as many other tree disorders. The most important diagnostic element to establish is a pattern of spread; this is the most identifiable symptom of oak wilt. Sometimes a pattern of spread on a site is obvious, sometimes not. If oak wilt is suspected and a pattern of disease spread is not obvious, we highly recommend a monitoring program where photographic evidence of the trees is taken 3 to 4 times over the course of a year. It is important to know that there are many other disorders that can kill oak trees. Many lay persons believe that this is the only tree disease that kill oaks, The truth is that oak wilt is not even the number one killer we deal with, it's just the most well known. See this blog post for more details on identifying oak wilt.

Oak wilt treatments consist of fungicide injections applied into the trunk of the tree. There are two techniques used to inject the fungicide: macro-injection and micro-injection. Macro requires drilling larger holes and using a larger volume of water. Micro requires smaller holes to be drilled and uses a smaller volume of water. Both techniques use the same amount of fungicide active ingredient. Macro injection typically requires more labor to apply, but can offer some benefits in certain senarios. Our experience is that both techniques work. Your arborist may recommend a technique for your specific situation.

This is what sets Austin Tree Experts apart from the rest of the crowd. We have a dedicated arborist for follow ups. If your plan is to treat your trees and then turn a cold shoulder assuming the problem is solved, then save your money, because it isn't going to work. Trees metabolize the treatments which means the treatments need to be reapplied every 12-18 months. You are going to need regular monitoring to know exactly when to retreat. Also, there are other tree disorders that your trees could succumb to . We include timely fertilization with the monitoring program to help prevent other problems from surfacing. This is complete tree health care management.