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trimming of oak trees - Oak Wilt warning!
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edward tasch
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Mar 20, 2007 18:30 PST
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Dear Neighbors,
Currently, there is much trimming of oak trees going on in the central
and northwest Austin areas, particularly north of 45th and along Shoal
Creek Blvd. One tree company is going door to door, telling residents
that this is the best time of the year to prune oaks, offering cheap
rates, and representing himself as trained by the former city arborist.
As many of you are aware, this is the worst possible time to prune
oaks because of the activity of oak wilt beetles.
We have brought this to the attention of the City Arborist and City
Forestry Division staff, and they are very concerned about the work that
is going on. I am concerned this firm will move into other
neighborhoods, including Bryker Woods.
If you must do trimming of oaks at this time, I urge you to first
contact City Arborist Chris Dolan at 974-1881 (
chris.-@ci.austin.tx.us) or Jay Culver at the City of Austin
Forestry Division at 440-5195, or visit the city's oak wilt website:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/oakwilt where there is a list of recommended
arborists.
A few points I learned from them:
1. This is the WORST time of the year (March through July), not the
best time, to trim trees.
2. If a tree is cut, the wound needs to be sealed immediately, not 5
minutes later, not 30 minutes later, but immediately.
3. The beetles that carry oak wilt are active. They are attracted to
open wounds. If they have contact with a red oak that has a fungal
growth on it, then land on an open wound of another tree, they will
spread oak wilt.
4. Once a tree has oak wilt, it will spread through the root system to
other trees. The trees will die. Sometimes, extraordinarily expensive
efforts can save some of the trees, but that is by no means a "sure
thing".
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