Oak Wilt

Your HOA recently hired Don Gardner, Consulting Arborist, to survey the trees in the Balcones Village/Spicewood neighborhood. We are happy that we got an excellent report. Here are some excerpts from the written report provided by Mr. Gardner. (I have provided the emphasis and notes below.)
  • “No new oak wilt disease centers were found and none of the four old confirmed oak wilt centers appear to be active in the entire Balcones Village neighborhood.”
  • “Your neighborhood is the best example in Austin that I have seen of being persistent and dealing with this dreaded disease each and every time it shows up.”
  • “This survey is a driving survey--sometimes called a windshield survey. Every street in the neighborhood was driven and the two golf courses were surveyed by golf cart.”
  • Suggestions:
    • “Continue educating people not to prune trees susceptible to oak wilt February 1 to July 1. Spring is when oak wilt spreads.”
    • “Encourage people to plant for species diversity. Some arborists would say you have too many live oaks. Encourage people to plant Monterey oaks, chinkapin oaks, burr oaks, and cedar elms. Despite what some people say, cedars (ashe junipers) are native, are not water hogs, and are a good tree for here.” (Note: information about these trees can be found at http://texastreeid.tamu.edu/index.aspx and https://www.austintexas.gov/department/grow-green. Monterey oaks also are called Mexican white oaks.)
    • “Discourage and remove chinaberry trees. They are not native, are very invasive, and slowly change the character of the urban forest.” (Note:  more information about chinaberry trees is at http://texastreeid.tamu.edu/content/TreeDetails/?id=57&t=C.)
    • “There is a fungal leaf disease call ‘toubaccia’, that arborists are seeing more and more the last few  years. This disease is not a tree killer. Branches, mostly in the lower crown, lose their leaves (defoliate) during times of the year they usually hold their leaves. I saw several examples of toubaccia in your neighborhood. It is sometimes mistaken for oak wilt. There is no treatment for toubaccia and I do not think it is a serious tree issue.”