Approaching Blight On Southeast Texas Oaks, Because Of Draught

The Texas drought of 2011 could be remembered nationally for the widespread wildfires our state endured, and the news media exposure it garnered. Here in the Piney Woods area of the southeast quadrant of the state, we escaped almost all of the wildfires, but we are troubled with another great problem: dead and dying trees.

Our dense forests, together with our front- and back yards, are populated with 60 tall oaks and loblolly pine trees, all natural to this region exactly due to the consistently abundant amount of rainfall this coastal region normally has. Though not this year, however, and the wide range of oak trees here are all made susceptible to another deadly condition. If the drought has not finished an oak outright yet, the tree might be in danger of expiring from another related condition, hypoxylon canker, one of the most deadly of oak diseases.

Hypoxylon canker is a fungus that causes the decay of oak trees and other hardwoods. The oak fungus is commonplace here in the Southeastern area of Texas, but is often only a problem for weakened trees. Drought of course is a condition which will weaken oaks. Oaks which have been deprived of enough rainfall are highly subject to hypoxylon canker oak disease. Under current drought conditions, this oak disease might become widespread like never before.

The fungus spreads by spores and will not typically be an issue for a strong tree. But an unhealthy tree is more certain to have areas where the hypoxylon canker fungus might get in contact with the sapwood of the tree. And once that contact happens, there’s no undoing it. The tree proceeds to rot, and it all happens quite fast. A powerful and healthy tree will all of a sudden become rotten and dead, and at great jeopardy of falling down.

Therefore , all trees that are on your property, or that grow close by and could easily fall on your property, are trees you'll need to water. If you have oaks or other hardwoods that you believe might be infected by the malady, call an arborist to evaluate the tree. And if infected, have it cut down before it comes down of its own volition.

Katherine Parker shares information about one of the oak diseases likely to be epidemic in the current 2011 Texas drought, and writes for arborist Southeast Texas Trees, LLC. In this article, she shares information about an oak disease called hypoxylon canker.