OWEN TREE SERVICE ARBORIST PARTICIPATES IN PILOT PROGRAM

OWEN TREE SERVICE ARBORIST PARTICIPATES IN PILOT PROGRAM

We would like to extend our congratulations to our consulting arborist, Kay Sicheneder. Kay was among the 18 initial arborists, foresters and land & tree care professionals to participate in a pilot program in Michigan to combat the deadly oak wilt disease.

The new training program, which qualifies an individual as an Oak Wilt Qualified Professional was developed by the Oak Wilt Coalition in response to the increased incidence of oak wilt throughout Michigan over the last several years.

Oak wilt specialist

Oak wilt is a disease that can infect all oak species found in Michigan, but is especially lethal to oaks in the red oak group. These include northern red oak, pin oak, black oak and scarlet oak. Once infected, trees in the red oak group cannot be saved; stopping infection from oak wilt for these trees must be accomplished by preventative trunk injections of fungicides. Oaks in the white oak group, on the other hand, can live many years after being infected by oak wilt and in some cases may be saved.

If you have an oak tree that drops its leaves suddenly in the summer you can contact Owen Tree Service at 800-724-6680 to have your tree inspected for oak wilt. A rapid response is necessary for oak wilt infected trees because the disease can quickly spread to surrounding oak trees by insects carrying disease spores or via root grafts.

More information on oak wilt can be found on the Owen Tree website at http://www.owentree.com/Oak_Wilt.php or at the Michigan Oak Wilt Coalition website at http://www.michiganoakwilt.org/

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