When Disease Calls: How Healthy Trees Become Ill
Arborists have long sought to represent trees' lives as a mirror image of human life. Trees, like humans, require nutrition, care, and a balanced diet to avoid becoming ill from an assault of potentially fatal bacterial and viral infections that can be transmitted by the air or vectored (wind, birds, insects, and tools).
Individuals should be knowledgeable about their trees and the illnesses that might affect them.
Allow me to give a not unusual tale about how a once-healthy tree becomes severely infected with a bacterial illness.
Excellent Intentions
Throughout a spring weekend, Mac saw that branches from his Bradford pear were dangling dangerously close to his roof line, alarming both him and his insurance company. He determined that when his landscaping firm arrived Monday to cut the grass and hedge his shrubs, he would request that they clip the pear back to the roofline.
Monday arrived, and the landscapers unloaded their equipment in preparation for the weekly service. Mac contacted Bobby, the foreman, with the request and was responded to with a "no problem."
An extension ladder, rusty power hedgers, a worn pole pruner, and a set of dull loppers all emerged within a short period. The roof was cleaned after a few cuts. Mac was satisfied and offered the workers an additional $40.00 for their efforts.
Mac considered the situation.
Alternatively, was it...
Spring gave way to summer, and summer to fall. With Halloween rapidly approaching, Mac began arranging his yearly frightening outside show. Included was a scene in which a ghost descends from his chimney to the same pear tree that his landscapers pruned in the spring. Mac was climbing his A-frame ladder with a cable in hand, attempting to secure it to the tree, when he observed what seemed to be charred branch parts on the trimmed side of the tree. The closer he examined them, the more they appeared to have been charred by a blow torch.
Mac shrugged his shoulders and moved on. After securing the line and descending the ladder, he examined the remainder of the tree but noticed no more leaves with a similar appearance. However, as he shifted his gaze to the pyracantha hedge that encircled the front of his house, he observed a similar charred appearance on the tips of branches. He was now bewildered.
Disease Transmission
So what transpired?
When Mac's landscapers arrived at his house that spring day, they had just finished trimming sick pyracantha and crab apple trees on another property.
Bacteria were transferred to their pruning instruments. When the same instruments came into contact with Mac's tree and bushes, they contracted the infection.
This type of story occurs daily.
How to Minimize Risk
Therefore, how can we avoid situations like this?
To begin, we must be aware of the tree and shrub species that exist in our area, as well as the illnesses that they can catch. In today's Internet-enabled world, locating that information is rather simple.
Second, if you employ someone to care for your trees and shrubs, ensure that they are knowledgeable about the disease and enter your property with sterilized instruments. You'd be shocked to learn how many so-called 'professionals' have no idea what illnesses are.
We recognize that protecting your property from diseases transmitted by the wind, birds, or insects is impossible. However, if you or a professional do the following steps, you may significantly minimize the chance of infection in your trees and shrubs*:
If the infection is caused by a virus or viroid, disinfect your tools.
Disinfect your instruments if it is a vascular fungus or bacterium that produces gushing cankers.
Attempt to avoid cutting active, leaking cankers; instead, wait for them to dry.
Disinfect your instruments if you are trimming precious plants.
Select a disinfectant that has been demonstrated to be effective in published studies.
You would never allow a medical practitioner to use an unsterilized instrument on you or your family - why should your trees and property be any different?
Tree Trimming San Antonio
1700 Jackson Keller Rd. #704 San Antonio TX 78213
(210) 985 1760