Please, please, please magic marker “NOT” … “no oak trimming” every year on your calendar for February, March, April, May, and June. This applies to all oaks – white, red, and live. All are precious.
Educate neighbors.
Stop “clean up” projects that involve oaks.
If you think an unspruced-up tree looks bad, just drive along long stretches of Central Texas roads with bare naked dead live oaks.
These dead live oaks pose no oak wilt danger. They mark the progression of the disease. And, the skeletons serve as “Wildlife Trees” and a reminder, “NOT in February – June”.
When you trim (this trimming should be during July – January) or inadvertently scalp an exposed root with a mower, spray or brush paint immediately. Immediately is not when you’ve finished your project. Latex paint, any color, will seal a fresh wound from beetles carrying oak wilt.
Texas Forest Service says, “Oak wilt … is killing oak trees in central Texas at epidemic proportions. Oak wilt is an infectious disease caused by the fungus Ceratocystis fagacearum, which invades and disables the water-conducting system in susceptible trees.”
TFS explains oak trees are “generally” red oaks (Spanish oak, Shumard oak, blackjack oak) or white oaks (post oak, bur oak, chinquapin, pin oak).
Red oaks are most oak wilt susceptible. When oak wilt attacks a red oak, a banana-smelling fungal mat forms. In summer, an infected red oak will develop red foliage. The red oak quickly dies. It should be burned in place or buried. Another option is calling an arborist to girdle the infected red oak and remove the bark.
White oaks resist oak wilt and generally survive oak wilt.
So, are live oaks white or red? Neither! They’re “somewhat intermediate”. Live oaks usually die when infected. Through common roots, the disease creeps from one tree to the next. The disease goes down through a single wound and the disease comes up over and over and over through the roots.
If you smell rotten bananas as you pass our house, it’s not a red oak’s fungal mat. Rotten bananas attract butterflies and flying insects.
Signs will attract garage sale shoppers the first Saturday in June, the annual “Mountain City Garage Sales” date. Don’t let the “no outlet” sign keep you from the Live Oak cul-de-sac.
Drive slowly and you may see the Painted Buntings that visit our wildscape.
My visiting sister saw many Painted Buntings. And, a Scarlet Tanager surprised us last Thursday before she left.
When Marsha returned to Deep East Texas, she Facebook’d, “The ground at Pauline Tom’s glistened with fireflies coming out. Don’t know when I had seen so many.” It’s impossible to capture a still shot for you. But, you’re welcome to drive by just at dark.
The school property ground behind some houses on Live Oak Drive has been stripped bare in preparation for “improvements”. Come to Monday City Council Meeting, 6pm, for an update.
Montage starts bare naked each week. Please help me with tidbits, colorful or drab. Email [email protected] (subject: tidbits) or leave a message at 512-268-5678. Thanks! Love, Pauline
