Sudden Oak Life by Lee Klinger

I recently inspected four mature coast live oaks in Los Altos, CA that I first treated last year with fire mimicry. All four have stem canker disease (probably Sudden Oak Death), and the largest, a 300+ yrs old Ohlone-tended (pollarded) oak, is severely diseased. Stem canker surgeries involving canker removal with an axe and multi-tool, cauterization of the wound, and poultice application were done on all four oaks.

All four oaks are showing noticeable improvement in canopy health (greenness), and the surgeries, for the most part were successful, although there are small residual infections in two of the oaks that need to be treated. Otherwise, I’m calling this a win after just one year! Of course, I will continue to treat and monitor these oaks in future years.