Richfield Twp.: The 172-foot-tall red oak in Gayle Palshook’s yard has been part of her life for more than 50 years.
She and her two siblings used to climb the centuries-old tree as kids. Today it stands as something of a living memorial to her late parents, who agreed when they bought the property in 1962 that they would never cut its oaks down.
Now that grand tree is dying, apparently a victim of a fast-moving disease called oak wilt. To Palshook, it’s a little like losing a member of the family.
“Looking at it now, it’s hard to believe it’s going to be dead in a few weeks,” she said as she looked up at a leafy canopy that is still mostly green, except for some brown leaves near the top. “… I’m in denial.”
Palshook first noticed a problem a few weeks ago, when green leaves started dropping from the tree, many of them browning at the edges. She looked up into the tree and noticed a limb with dead leaves.
An arborist with the Davey Tree Expert Co. examined the tree and sent samples for a laboratory analysis. Although the results aren’t back yet, all the signs point to oak wilt, said Gordon Matthews, the company’s Akron-area district manager.
The disease that attacks all types of oaks can kill certain kinds with alarming speed — sometimes, in just weeks.
It’s not a new disease, nor is it common, said Alan Siewert, an urban forester with the Ohio Division of Forestry. But “when you do get it, it is devastating.”
“It’s not something where we need to stop planting oak trees,” Siewert said. Nevertheless, he said landowners with oaks need to be aware of the disease so they can take steps to prevent it and act quickly and appropriately if trees show signs of infection.
Oak wilt is caused by a fungus called Ceratocystis fagacearum, believed to be native to the United States. It’s common to the Great Lakes states and Texas, Siewert said.
The fungus causes the vessels that carry water up into the tree to become plugged, causing the tree to wilt and die.
It kills red and black oaks quickly, whereas infected white oaks can limp along for a year or two before dying, according to information from the Ohio State University Extension.
Sometimes the fungus enters trees through fresh wounds, its spores carried there by insects, birds, squirrels or other creatures, Siewert said.
More often, it’s spread from an infected oak to others through roots that have become grafted naturally.
Siewert said that latter scenario makes oak wilt especially devastating for stands of oak trees. The infection can start with a single tree and keep moving outward, killing all the oaks that share the same root system.
Palshook suspects her tree was infected after a limb broke off in early June, tearing some of the bark and exposing the susceptible sapwood. But she’s also aware that neighbors have had oak trees die suddenly, so it’s possible the fungus was spread underground.
Once a tree is infected, it rarely can be saved, Matthews said. “If there’s more than 2 percent dieback in the crown, forget it,” he said.
If treatment is done, it usually focuses on preventing the disease’s spread, he and Siewert said.
In Palshook’s case, Davey painted the wound from the fallen limb so it wouldn’t attract beetles and other creatures that might spread the spores, and it injected fungicide into four other oaks on her property to try to stave off infection.
She also had the infected oak treated, even though she knows it probably won’t do any good. “I have to try,” she said.
Her hope, however, is tempered by reality. She knows her beloved tree is almost certainly approaching the end of its life.
For Palshook, it’s just one more in a string of losses. Her father, Peter, died in 2010, and her mother, Helen, passed away just last year.
Her voice quavered when she talked about the oak’s demise.
“I’m not going to be around when they cut it down,” she said. “I’m not going to be able to take it.”
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MBBreckABJ, follow her on Twitter @MBBreckABJ and read her blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/mary-beth.