San Antonio area arborists say there is a surge of oak wilt in Bexar County and it appears to be moving to the west, in the direction of Boerne.
Oak wilt is a fungal infection that can wipe out huge swaths of oaks - some of the most widely-found trees in Central Texas.
The pathogen, which is spread by beetles, targets all oak trees and can kill in a Live Oak between 1-6 months after the first symptoms appear. Red oaks have it even harder though, often dying within 3-4 weeks of being infected.
"The trees are the most important part of your landscape,” says Mark Duff, a Texas A&M forester. “You can have 10 or 15 large live oaks in your front and back yards -- just the trees can contribute say $40,000 worth to your property values. They throw around the figure that 10- to 15-percent of your property value can be tired up in trees."
Hollywood Park Mayor Chris Fails says he’s working on a plan to coordinate with the City of San Antonio to fight oak wilt.
“My big initiative and what I'm working on is trying to create a shared arborist to focus soley on oak wilt and what we do to reduce or mitigate the impact of oak wilt in Northwest Bexar County as a whole,” Fails says.
Arborists say the best way to protect your trees against oak wilt is to make sure open wounds on a tree are painted over. They recommend hiring tree trimming services with certified workers who sanitize tree pruning equipment.
Here the Texas A&M Forest Service answers some of the most frequently asked questions about oak wilt.
More information about oak wilt can be found at http://texasoakwilt.org.
For information on pruning to prevent oak wilt check here.
On the Source:
Mark Bird, San Antonio's City Arborist
Mark Duff, Texas A&M Forester
Ross Hosea, San Antonio City Forester
Mayor Chris Fails of Hollywood Park
