RHINELANDER, WI (WSAU-WXPR) – The Wisconsin DNR is asking people to hold off pruning or cutting oak trees until after July.
Now through July is typically the time of year when oak wilt is most likely to spread.
The disease quickly kills trees once infected.
The disease is spread long distance through beetles and more locally through root systems.
To prevent the spread, you should avoid cutting or damaging an oak tree now through July. It doesn’t take long to know if a tree is infected,
Paul Cigan is a plant, pests, and disease specialist with the Wisconsin DNR. He says trees usually die from the disease within weeks of infection. “What you want to look for is in the middle of the summer through about September, if the leaves of an oak tree start to drop off precipitously and the edge of the leaf has a brown or a bronze coloration that is a very tell-tale sign that oak wilt could be infecting and killing that tree.”
If that happens, Cigan says to call an arborist or local DNR forest health specialist to contain the spread.
Oak wilt has been found in most Wisconsin counties. “Over the last probably five years we’re seeing more oak wilt infections in Northern Wisconsin for a variety of reasons. The disease has taken some time to get up here. People moving firewood around, firewood logs. And then also, construction in new areas is causing trees to get injured during the risky period which is April through the July and then end up getting infected with the disease.”
You can find more information on oak wilt at the DNR website.
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