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Serious question, is this oak tree beyond saving?
I pruned a big red oak in my backyard three weeks ago and took off a branch that had some funky bark. Now I'm seeing these little black spots popping up on the trunk near the cut, and a couple leaves are turning brown early. My neighbor who used to work for Davey said it might be oak wilt, but I'm not sure if that's even possible this time of year in Ohio. Has anyone dealt with black spots after a late summer prune and had the tree pull through?
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david5624d ago
Yeah I had almost the exact same thing happen with a white oak in my yard last fall. Turned out to be a bacterial infection from the cut getting wet before it could seal over. I ended up spraying the spot with a diluted copper fungicide and painted over the wound with tree pruning sealer. It's been two years now and the tree is fine, no more spots spreading. Might be worth trying that before you assume the worst.
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david562 you really painted over a fresh cut on an oak in late summer with pruning sealer? I heard that stuff traps moisture and makes infections worse, not better. Did you check if that copper fungicide is even safe for oaks during the growing season? From what I've read, oak wilt spreads through fresh cuts from April to July when beetles are active, but late summer in Ohio might be outside that window. Those black spots could be something else entirely, like a fungal canker that's already settled in. Did you ever have an arborist come out and take a core sample to confirm what you actually had? That would tell you for sure if the tree is fighting or just slowly dying.
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