Oak Wilt

Buffalo Clover is full of some amazing trees. Most of them are Cedar Elms. A few of them are Live Oaks. The rest of them are Junipers or other variations of Oaks.

It's the Live Oaks that are of special concern right now. Apparently about 2 yrs ago (pre us living here) there was an outbreak of Oak Wilt on the property. The previous owner had over 70 oak trees treated!! Unfortunately, a good share of the really large ones were lost. Mostly the ones in front of the house.

Anyway, with this drought, our oaks were looking a little sad and weepy. We knew we'd had a bout of wilt before, so we called in the experts. They walked the entire acreage and found only 1 tree that had an active case. Unfortunately, it's in a grove of some of our largest and prettiest oaks.

No treatment at all would have ensured death to the entire grove. So, last week, the specialists came over to treat our trees.

See those majestic oaks? Those are the ones we are trying to save. The baby tree in the photo is one of 14 that were planted shortly after the huge oaks in the front were lost. They are mostly Burr Oaks and Red Oaks. Both of which shouldn't have issues with the Wilt.

The whole process was fascinating. First, a truck with a large air compressor on it was brought in. A large hose and a guy wearing a mask and suspenders emerged. It got really loud for a little while. Then really quiet for a while. 2 hours passed before the doorbell rang. They were done!

They explained it to me like an I.V. for the trees. The barrels are full of pesticide and water. They use the hose to blow out the dirt/leaves around the tree roots. Then a surgical cord is brought in and screwed into the roots at various places. The cord is then hooked up to a pressure valve on the barrels. A constant drip of water/pesticide is then provided to the trees for aprox 6 days.




At the end of that time, they come back, clean up the cord and the barrels, put the dirt back around the tree roots and then mulch mulch mulch.

Now you know more than you ever did/wanted to about Oak Wilt. We are hopeful we can rid our ranch of it before we have any further issues.

Thank goodness for all the Cedar Elms! They are immune to the disease!