What You Should Know About Oak Wilt

What You Should Know About Oak Wilt

(updated April 2020) What is Oak Wilt? Oak wilt is a vascular wilt disease caused by a fungus that infects the water-conducting tissues of oak trees and causes them to wilt and die. Good health does not improve resistance to this disease. If the oak tree is challenged...
What You Should Know About Soils

What You Should Know About Soils

(updated March, 2017) Soil is more than sand, silt, and clay with some small amount of organic matter.  You may have 3 inches of clay over caliche, or 12 inches of blackland clay, or 5 feet of sand over hardpan. Whatever you have, soil is teaming with life. Experts...
Endophytic Bacteria and the Rhizophagy Cycle

Endophytic Bacteria and the Rhizophagy Cycle

I was amazed as I learned about the soil food web and mycorrhizae fungi and all the benefits they provide plants and soil.  We know that bacteria play a role providing those benefits and we are just learning that some of those benefits are provided while bacteria...
When A Tree Grows New Bark

When A Tree Grows New Bark

The car struck the tree at more than 60 mph. The teenage driver was dead and his girlfriend was in intensive care. The car was wrapped around a tree and the car battery had gone thru a metal garage door about 25 feet from the tree. The 15 inch Cedar Elm was standing...