Organic Answers Column – April 3, 2024 – Oak Wilt

Oak Wilt

There’s a YouTube entry about oak wilt, new this week, that is inane and should be ignored.

It’s titled:

What Is Oak Wilt And How Can You Prevent It From Affecting Your Trees?
Oak wilt, a devastating fungus, has taken out more than 1 million oak trees across Texas.
The video is from a local Dallas TV station.

This video states that all you can do is either remove the problem trees or treat the trees with an propiconazole product such as Alamo.

Well – propiconazole is a toxic chemical product that doesn’t work. No one seems to have any evidence that it cures infected trees, only that it prevents oak wilt “some percentage of the time.” We do have plenty of evidence that the Sick Tree Treatment procedure will both prevent and cure oak wilt and other serious diseases in trees. The only part of the chemical treatment that seems to a have a positive effect is the exposure of the flare to allow the chemical to be injected into the flare.

The early signs of oak wilt (left); a tree with the fungal infection.

Flare exposure is the first and most important step of our recommended Sick Tree Treatment. Here’s an update on our website entry for oak wilt:
Oak Wilt

From a USDA article by Rexrode and Brown: Oak wilt, caused by the fungus
Ceratocystis fagacearum (Bretz) Hunt, kills oak trees. It has been found in 21 States,
with considerable damage occurring in the Midwest. It was first recognized as an
important disease in 1944 in Wisconsin.

And here’s the link to the Sick Tree Treatment procedure. Sick Tree Treatment