I normally don’t write much, if anything, about Texas A&M AgriLife Extension topics primarily because I don’t have the expertise those people have.
But the office here will have an “Oak Wilt & Tree Health Talk” from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, at the Cedar Lane Community Center.
Before transplanting here in the late 1990s, most of my life was spent in the Texas Hill Country.
In the early 1980s, I witnessed the tremendous devastation wrought by the oak wilt disease.
The disease pretty much mimics
hardening of the arteries in humans.
Wilt disables the water distribution in oak trees, and kills them.
Red oaks are the most susceptible, white oaks are the most resistant and live oaks are intermediate, but can be seriously affected because of their root system.
Red Oaks include Spanish and Blackjack oaks, while white oaks are post, bur and chinkapin – not to be confused with the spelling of our community here.
Live oaks, of course, need no introduction here or in Kerrville.
I saw live oaks almost completely wiped out in Kerrville subdivisions, including one I lived in.
The city golf course in Kerrville, Scott Schreiner, lost large swaths of trees to the wilt.
Often, it seems, the crown of an oak with wilt can seem healthy, when closer inspection shows the tree interior’s growth is affected.
I’ve driven along heavily forested highways and was saddened when I saw long stretches of gray, dead oaks and the only green you see is the grass beneath them.
The road between Kerrville and Bandera once seemed like a complete wipeout.
It was found through rough experience not to put fire wood from affected trees on the ground because the fungus Ceratocystis fagacearum that causes wilt will spread through the ground and attack healthy trees.
I remember hearing older Kerrville residents from northern states describe the oak losses like the Dutch elm disease that devastated trees in the north, which unfortunately is found in Texas.
Both the oak and elm diseases are carried by beetles that carry the fungus on their bodies.
Needless to say, what I’ve written here simply scratches the surface.
The Texas Forest Service and AgriLife Extension have extensive resources about wilt.
If you’re interested, or concerned, you should check out the program in Cedar Lane.
I was deeply affected by what I saw happen to my favorite tree.
