The white oak is a large, wide tree with beautiful light gray bark and leaves that start out pink in the spring, turn glossy green during the summer, and change to a brilliant red in the fall before shedding for the winter. If you have a white oak in your yard or property, you will want to do your best to preserve this majestic tree's natural beauty.   

Preserving that beauty involves monitoring the tree for signs of tree diseases that can potentially cause damage or even kill the tree. Calling in a tree care service as soon as you spot symptoms is the best way to both protect and potentially save your tree.

Here are a few of the tree diseases that can threaten your white oak tree.

Hypoxylon Canker

The fungal tree disease hypoxylon canker invades the white oak via weak spots in the bark caused by weather damage or prior disease damage. The fungus will create canker sores in the surrounding bark that will have an inflamed look around the edges and a dark and sometimes oozing center.

Hypoxylon canker can start to cause the affected branches to die off and fall from the tree. The disease is potentially fatal in red oaks but white oaks are thankfully less susceptible and thus less likely to die. On the small chance that the tree does die, you will need to call a tree removal service to keep the disease from spreading to other trees.

Call a tree trimming service as soon as cankers appear. The trimmers will cut away affected branches without causing any new damage to the remaining bark. This tactic is the best way to protect the oak from the disease's spread.

Armillaria Root Rot

Armillaria root rot is an aggressive fungal disease that can do a lot of damage underground before any symptoms present aboveground. The presenting symptoms will include the leaves becoming smaller and discolored and branches dying from the top of the tree downward. Yellowish bulbous mushrooms can also form at the base of the tree where the trunk meets the soil.

It's vital to call a tree care service as soon as you suspect root rot as taking a wait-and-see approach can lead to the death of your tree. The best treatments are trimming away any already affected branches and leaves, pulling any affected fallen materials away from the tree's base, and keeping the soil well moisturized and treated. These steps can help the white oak fend off the disease. 

Oak Wilt

Oak wilt is another fungal tree disease that can affect the white oak. Leaves will start to turn dull and wrinkly before darkening, withering, and falling from the tree. Existing wounds in the bark can darken dramatically.

There is no cure for oak wilt but this is another tree disease where the white oak has a bit of natural reliance.  Call a tree care service to remove the affected materials and to work to keep the tree as healthy as possible while the white oak tries to fight off the wilt disease. 

If the tree does die, call a tree removal service (such as Coryell Tree Service) to fully remove the infected tree.   

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