Can my trees get oak wilt from the smoke of burning diseased wood?
No, the fungus that causes oak wilt is very heat sensitive. The problem with firewood is the potential for storing contaminated wood. If the wood came from an oak wilt center and has fungal mats, then the beetles can fly off and infect the healthy trees in your yard. The best precaution is to always buy well seasoned firewood. If you cut down infected red oaks cover the wood with a clear plastic for one year. This will ensure that the fungus is killed by the summer heat. Once the wood has dried out to the point where the bark is falling off and the wood is cracked then the fungus that causes oak wilt is no longer viable (alive). Stopping Spread through Roots Measures can be taken to break root connections between live oaks or dense groups of red oaks to reduce or stop root transmission of the oak wilt fungus. The most common technique is to sever roots by trenching at least 4 ft deep with trenching machines, rock saws, or ripper bars. Trenches more than 4 ft deep may be needed to assur
