Battling Oak Wilt
 

Fri and Sat rides ruined do to battle against oak wilt :mad: Cut down several dead oaks trying to stop the spread of this insidious tree disease. Hopefully I have it contained but only time will tell. I’m bone tired right now so after a good nights sleep I plan on a decent Sunday ride. Everyone have a great Easter holiday :ride:

I feel your pain.

I wasn't logging, but I was digging up and fixing a leaky water line just past the meter.

Looking to an early ride in tomorrow.

We had a shed raising at my son’s new house this weekend. No rides here either. I’m sore as well from bending the new hip at the waist. My son’s excited that he will have a place to store his bicycle.

As usual it took longer than I anticipated. Building the platform took several hours. Assembling the shed took a full day for the two of us. Lots of screws—-really glad to have a battery powered drill to handle it. We only had to undo and redo a couple things.....about 45 minutes extra.

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I hadn't heard of Oak Wilt but after reading about it, the disease is reminiscent of similar diseases that wiped out the American chestnut tree in the early 20th century and Dutch elm disease which wiped out elm trees in the Midwest beginning in the 1960s. Whole neighborhoods were planted with the elm tree because it offered a beautiful canopy shading entire streets. When I lived in Michigan it was a bad idea to buy a house in winter only to discover the elm trees on the property were infected because the cities would come around, tag the tree with a removal order, and the new homeowner was stuck with an expensive tree removal bill. I lived in a house in Madison WI where counting the tree rings on a elm stump showed the neighborhood had been built right around 1900. By that time all of the elm trees had been removed. It's a good lesson why it is not bright to plant just a few variety of trees in a neighborhood as you never know which species is next.

We've been caring for this tree, believed to be +/- 200 yrs old, for more than forty years we've lived here. Took care to have trimming, cleaning out done only after a killing frost to reduce chances of oak wilt. Sadly, we detected the beginnings of foundation issues so it has to come down. :o:o. No date yet, but it won't be long. Circulated an email to the neighborhood list to prepare everyone.

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Here is the battlefield

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b44478a38.jpeg

Hopefully putting an end to the oak wilt.

Whew, it sounds like a nasty disease.

We have quite a few oaks around here. Some quite large. Apparently the Oregon oaks are less susceptible to the disease, but aren't immune.

Hopefully the disease isn't brought in with nursery stock or wood.

More fodder for Foo? :foo:

Foundation walls OK sitting next to that big ol' oak?