Oak wilt milling concerns

[AChestnut]

In my area a lot of red oak trees are being lost due to oak wilt. My neighbor and I each had a tree taken down last week that died from oak wilt last summer. I am milling them right now with a CSM. My concern is if there is any danger of infecting other oaks nearby when milling these trees?

 

[woodshop]

I'm not an arborist and thus take this with a grain of salt, but it is my understanding that oak wilt is in the root system, and milling the trunk of the tree will not spread this to other trees.

 

[Backwoods]

Check with your local county extension service. They should be able to help you understand how the wilt works and how it is spread and what to do when you first see signs of it.

 

[Jesse Benson]

It is in the root system and the entire tree. I am not an arborist, I researched this as I wanted to cut a few down due to wilt. I will try to find a link for you. Oak wilt is a fungus, that is where grafted root systems cause problems. The main culprit for wide spread are beetles that climb on the tree and carry the fungus with them. From what I read you want to do your best to drop the trees without hitting any other tree, and then cut and stack the wood where it lays, cover with plastic and put dirt all around the plastic and let the wood sit for a year. To top that off, they recommend debarking the wood prior to covering with plastic. You are suppose to cut the root system around the tree as well. I am just regurgitating a website so here it is.

www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/howtos/ht_oakwilt/toc.htm#how

Hope this helps, if the address does not work, I just typed Oak wilt into google and it was the first link