soil as wound dressing

Several years ago I was speaking with Denise Frolich and John Britton, both consulting arborists and authors of the certification program in calif. Denise is past president of asca and western chapter ISA. About the benifits of using soil or mud to rub into large pruning cuts to discolor them. They both thought soil was an excellent wound dressing. I want to know if anyone has heard of this and if anyone uses soil to cover pruning cuts

What about spreading soil born diseases, like Virt Wilt?

Veriticillium Wilt..fungus... survives in soil for years

He's doing more than just delivering code.

Locating him and sending a salvo.

See my post in 'Support and Announcements' about MilkMan.

JPS, Why haven't you deleted his post yet?

I thought I had. I took the code out now.

I cannot do anything with the other forums though.

Can vert wilt be spread by rubbing infected soil on suseptible host?

There is no cure for trees affected by verticillium wilt.

Fungus lives in soil and enters plants through the root system and attacks xylem (water conducting tissue).

Yes it can.

Here is a search on it.

http://search.dogpile.com/texis/search?method=&top=1&brand=dogpile&q=verticilium+wilt&cat=web

It is a rule of thimb around here that commercial topsoil is infected. It usulay comes from pasture land where the weeds host the fungus.

A new product? Different colored soils for different trees. Iron rich red soil for redwoods and cedars, there's a Jory soil here in the Willamette Valley that would be perfect. Some silty dark muck for black walnut. There must be some white stuff for birch out there somewhere. Collect it, sterilize it, bag it, and sell it. Can you patent dirt? I've painted wounds on one tree and God knows(if there is a god) I'll never do it again!

JPS
I checked the info you advised me to and found that vert wilt only infects root tissue and root injuries. soil infected with vert wilt will not infect trees if you rub some on the pruning cuts.

Originally posted by treeist
JPS
soil infected with vert wilt will not infect trees if you rub some on the pruning cuts.

Click to expand...

What information lead you to this conclusion?

One of those pages said just "injuries"

Vert is a systemic disease, all it has to do is enter the vascular sysytem

I've seen where it has entered through mower damamge where fresh topsoil was used for topdress.

The artical you directed me to, stated as you have in your experience. "infected when Injuries of root and collar tissue" Is not root tissue physiologically different than above ground bark?
Can I also get Armalaria and phytopthora in my tree?
What if I have Mud on my shoes when I climb? Sometimes its muddy underneath a tree and I make marks on the bark with my tennis shoes. Should I wipe them on my pray I dont fall again carpet befor acending aloft?

I took some landscaping classes at Portland Community College and the instructors recommended disinfecting pruning tools between cuts whenever pruning a tree with verticilium wilt. They were saying spray your hand pruners with lysol. Is there a difference between introducing verticilium from cut to cut, or from soil to cut as far as the host is concerned?

I'm trying to get the picture of this scenario in my mind.

Someone is pruning a tree and for some reason wants to hide some of the "white eyes". The ground support person sends up a bit of soil. (I have done this in the past once or twice.) Where is the ground person going to get the soil? Most likely from right under the tree. If the soil comes from under the tree and is infected by Vert. Wilt it doesn't matter if it might be passed through the pruning cut or not. The tree would already be infected if it were susceptible since there are many root injuries occurring over time.

Here's a web page on Vert. wilt. It looks like some infected trees can compartmentalize it.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG1164.html

How about wood decaying fungi, think there are any of those spores in soil?

I've head of rubbing dirt on human wounds too, I suspect it was tounge in cheek though. I personally would not rub dirt on one of my wounds any more than a tree wound, without some evidence that it is not harmful.

Mike Wendt spoke once of a study that shwed that using dirt clonized the wound with begnine flora and fauna wich could reduce the incidance of infection.

Most systemic pathogens can be compartmentalized by a tree with high vigor and vitality. But why risk it on a trunk wound?