Studies on Pruning Cuts and Wound Dressings for Oak Wilt Control

Abstract

Ceratocystis fagacearum causes the destructive tree disease called oak wilt. One means of pathogen spread is by insect vectors (Nitidulidae) that transmit spores into fresh wounds on healthy trees. Experiments were conducted in central Texas on native live oaks (Quercus fusiformis) to test pruning methods and paints on disease development. Three treatment combinations were tested on 30 trees (10 trees/treatment): flush cut unpainted, flush cut painted, and unpainted pruning cuts made according to the Shigo method. Unpainted puncture wounds were made on the lower trunks of an additional 20 trees as controls. C. fagacearum spores were applied to the pruning cuts and half of the puncture wounds (positive controls) after treatment, whereas the other half of the punctures received distilled water as negative controls. Oak wilt symptoms first appeared in the flush cut unpainted treatment 31 days after inoculation. Infection rates, in decreasing order, were; positive control (70%), flush cut unpainted (60%), Shigo pruning method (40%), flush cut painted (20%), and negative control (10%). Pruning wounds, regardless of method, were effective infection courts for the oak wilt pathogen. Fewer trees became infected when pruning cuts were painted, but differences among infection rates for pruning cuts were not statistically significant. Tree diameters and stem aspect ratio had no bearing on infection rates. The Shigo method is recognized as a superior method for pruning, but there is no reason to change current recommendations to paint fresh wounds on susceptible oaks in high-hazard oak wilt areas.

Recovery after curettage of grapevines with esca leaf symptoms

“…Eradicative pruning is a classical practice in plant protection (Svihra, 1994;Clark and Matheny, 2010), and removal of infected host branches or wood by cutting has been recommended for the control of many plant diseases or decay (Shigo, 1982). This technique has been used, with various degrees of success, for the management of Dutch elm disease (Gregory and Allison, 1979), oak wilt (Camilli et al, 2007), and played a strategic role in the control of fire blight (Paulin, 1996). In viticulture, trunk renewal is a common method for removing infected vine parts (Sosnowski et al, 2004;Smart, 2015), and involves the re-training of vines from suckers growing at trunk base.…”