MADISON, Wis. (WSAU) — If you’ve been looking to get some work done on the trees in your yard, state officials say now is the time to be doing it.
Paul Cigan with the DNR’s forest health section says the winter months are the best time to do your pruning because trees are mostly dormant and won’t be damaged by losing sap or being exposed to harmful agents. “It’s a little bit safer to prune your tree now because it’s less likely to be visited by organisms that might harm the tree or bring pathogens that might harm the tree.”
This is especially true for oak trees, which are vulnerable to the lethal oak wilt fungus while they are active and blooming during the spring and summer. Cigan says all it takes is an open wound on the tree to kill it. “That fluid would otherwise be an attractant for a small beetle that is attracted to oak wounds, but carries the spores of this lethal oak wilt fungus.” The DNR recommends no pruning, wounding, or cutting oak trees from April through July, but you should wait until October if you’re very cautious. “There’s no active spores, there’s no active beetles, and the ability of the tree to produce a beetle attracting substance is low.”
As always, you shouldn’t be moving raw cut firewood around, because that can spread other parasites like the emerald ash borer or gypsy moth.
ON THE WEB: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/foresthealth/oakwilt.html
