The Vigil Starts Again...

I have told the story before... neighbor's (sweetest old lady in the world) gorgeous red oaks pruned by a "professional tree care company" on May 22, 2009, smack dab in the middle of oak wilt season... two month vigil watching for signs of flagging... 36" diameter red oak collapsed in August, diagnosed with oak wilt... top quality tree care company S&S Tree Specialists injected the adjacent 2 trees on either side in hopes of preventing its spread... Excellent local tree care company Cannon River Tree Care removed it in March.

So now the question is: Will the two adjacent trees - about 23 feet away from the dead tree - survive? Did we treat them in time? A new vigil starts. The branches of one adjacent tree that overhang the street appear to be flagging - or at least not to have leafed out this spring. Could be nothing. Then again, that's how it started with the first tree.

Please be nothing.

I can't stand to see another of these beautiful oaks die just because some idiot with a chainsaw and a truck decided he could make money convincing elderly people their trees need pruning.

A Sad End To The Story

Last summer I blogged about how my elderly neighbor (sweetest lady in the world) was talked into having her northern red oaks pruned... on May 22nd... by a disreputable tree care company. It never ceases to amaze me that possession of a chain saw and truck are the only qualifications necessary to become a "tree care company."

One of those red oaks, a 36" diameter giant, was infected with oak wilt and was dead by the end of August. My neighbor's red oaks are part of a row of 12 beautiful reds spanning 5 different front yards. The neighbors must have planted them at the same time 80+ years ago.

The two adjacent trees on either side of the infected tree were injected to prevent the root-to-root spread of the fungus. My fingers are crossed that the treatment was done in time, given the close proximity of the trees and the rapid spread of the fungus through the roots.

Well, today marks the sad end to the story. The infected tree is being removed. The work is being done by Cannon River Tree Care. Let me make it perfectly clear: CRTC are NOT the guys who pruned the trees in May last year!! They are a terrific local tree care company. Owners Jon and Matt Feldman have been fantastic through the whole process since the disease was first diagnosed, and have bent over backwards to work with the homeowner. I only wish that the homeowner had contacted Jon and Matt before any of this - the story would have been very different.

So while a very reputable and highly qualified local tree care company is cleaning up the damage caused by someone else, that other "tree care company" is probably out there somewhere, talking someone else into pruning their oaks on this warm, sunny April 8. So it goes in the tree care business.

... although next week I hope to make at least a small difference. Stay tuned. Literally.

Oak Abuse, Part 5: Technology Is Amazing

My neighbor has contacted the Kunde Consultants division of S&S Tree Specialists to prevent the spread of oak wilt to other trees in her yard, as well as those in her neighbor's yard since oak roots don't recognize property lines... and in the process I was reminded of what an amazing time we live in.

Steve Kunde was a pioneer in the area of oak wilt prevention and eradication. He was also, and I'll never forget this, an early supporter of a little non-profit organization called Lasting Woodlands that I started as an urban forestry student back in 1988. A few years ago Kunde Company was acquired by S&S Tree Specialists, but remained essentially intact. I saw Steve about 18 months ago and he was really happy about the arrangement, which allows him to focus on the forestry side of things while the larger S&S organization can handle more of the business matters.

Glen Olson is a highly experienced forester with Kunde Consultants. Rather than driving 45 minutes south to Northfield to visit the site in person he brilliantly saved time & gas... and visited the site via satellite. Glen called say he was looking at my neighbor's home via an aerial image on Google Maps. He could see the line of oaks, and the location of the various walkways, sidewalks and driveways that I have always worried would make trenching to sever root grafts difficult if not impossible. He could tell from the imagery which trees were oaks and which were not. Amazing.

The bad news: Trenching is impossible.
The good news: The adjacent trees can be injected with fungicide to prevent infection. This will need to be done now and again in 2 years. The fungicide is called Propiconazole.

I was happy to provide some "ground truth" (as we say in the remote imaging game) by taking diameter measurements of the trees so that Glen could complete his quote quickly.

The 2 threatened oaks immediately to the north of the infected tree are 28 and 27 inches in diameter. The 2 oaks to the south are even bigger - 29 and 31 inches.

But of course the tree that died was the biggest of the group: 35.5 inches in diameter - 111.5 inches in circumference!

It's been a weird summer... arriving home from work in May 22 to learn that some hacks had pruned my neighbor's red oak trees smack dab in the middle of the danger zone for oak wilt spread... watching those trees all summer, first hoping against hope that they'd be all right, and then hoping against hope that the die back I was seeing was caused by something else, something less deadly... getting the diagnosis of oak wilt... then reconnecting with a great company like Kunde Consultants to do things right and protect the surrounding trees.

Every time I get discouraged that there are guys out there calling themselves tree care professionals who are wantonly (or accidentally through ignorance, which is just as bad) harming trees, I remember that there are people like Steve Kunde and Glen Olson out there who are committed to doing things right. And, who now have technology available to them that allows them to "visit" a site 35 miles away in a matter of minutes so they can do their important work even more efficiently and effectively.

Tree Care Plug

The other day John from Cannon River Tree Care came, at the home owner's request, to have a look at her oak wilt-infected tree and consult about preventing the spread of the fungus to adjacent trees.

While Cannon River Tree Care doesn't have the equipment required to take on this project, I came away really, really impressed with John's knowledge and integrity. Like me he was appalled that a so-called tree care company would prune those gorgeous red oaks in May, and was sick about the consequences.

If you live in the Northfield / Rice County, MN area I highly recommend Cannon River Tree Care. We're lucky to have such a high-quality tree care company here in the area.