Oak Wilt: Herbicide and Girdling

Research by the U.S. Forest Service’s Northern Research Station suggests that girdling and herbicide can be an effective way of containing oak wilt, a disease that is prevalent in red oak areas in the Lake States and “can kill an otherwise healthy red oak in 3 to 8 months”.

This method has an overall success rate of 55 percent, according to research conducted by the Northern Research Station, and is even more effective in “situations with four or fewer infected trees”, according to the research report.

The girdling-herbicide method kills the infected trees and also nearby trees to prevent the fungal disease from spreading.

A full description of this method of control and the research study is available here:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/resear...