Omaha Pine Wilt Disease Discussion

[Brad]

Omaha Pine Wilt Disease Discussion

Anyone notice how all the Pine Trees from 90th to 108 along Blondo have died. I know they said there was a beetle moving in, but wow, I never thought it would be so swift. That's going to be a lot of work to take down hundreds of trees,

[JB]

Brad - I did notice these trees. I was driving with my brother in the area and all the trees just look sick and horrible.

[nebugeater]

Haven't seen these but we did have about 20 pine trees that had to be taken down last summer where I work. In the spring they were fine with no signs of any issues. By June they were showing signs of turning brown. By the end of July they were completely brown and dead. Amazing how fast hey went. If it is the Pine Wilt that has gotten these then what I learned is once a tree is infested it has no chance of making it. There is no treatment that will save it or stop the kill. The trees will have hundreds if not thousands of bore holes in the trunk. They will be about 1/8" diameter. From what I was told the wood needs to be destroyed too or there is a chance that the insect that bored into the tree will survive and spread to new trees to feed.

Here are a couple of sources of info that I had bookmarked from when I was dealing with trees last summer.


http://lancaster.unl.edu/NEBLINE/2005/july05/page04.pdf



http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/SUL9.pdf

[thenewguy]

it makes me wonder why the city didn't react sooner. Like when you see shows on discovery about the Africanized bees in the southwest, snake-head fish in ponds, lakes, and rivers in the northeast, and mosquitoes carrying west Nile. Agencies will gas, remove, fish & kill, and gas (again) these animals. I've see where trucks will roll down the street just gassing trees and grass, and they ask people to stay inside for a little while, because the chemicals are toxic. Why didn't something like that happen if they knew beetles were moving in that could be potentially harmful to the trees?

[nebugeater]

it makes me wonder why the city didn't react sooner. Like when you see shows on discovery about the Africanized bees in the southwest, snake-head fish in ponds, lakes, and rivers in the northeast, and mosquitoes carrying west Nile. Agencies will gas, remove, fish & kill, and gas (again) these animals. I've see where trucks will roll down the street just gassing trees and grass, and they ask people to stay inside for a little while, because the chemicals are toxic. Why didn't something like that happen if they knew beetles were moving in that could be potentially harmful to the trees?

I do not believe there is ANY treatment short of a chain saw that will prevent or stop this infestation. That is what I have been told by more than on arborest when looking to see if we could prevent this from getting to more trees on our site.

If interested in more info on treatment ( or lack of) read page 7 of the Iowa St ( second) link that I included above.

[Uffda]

Brad,

You must be reading my mind as I have been noticing the same thing with the pine trees. There is an old acreage at 132 and Fort and most of their pines are dying. And then i noticed it all along Fort street and elsewhere too.

There is no effective treatment -- just cut them down and try to keep it from spreading. Kind of the like the Pine Beetle that is decimating the forests out west.

[jtshaw]

A couple of years ago a friend and I spent a lovely afternoon at Arbor Lodge State Park in Nebraska City, which had a beautiful forested area surrounding the lodge. I remember joking that squirrel parents must tell their children that if they behave and live righteously, when they die they will go to Arbor Lodge State Park.

I visited again a few weeks' ago, and the wilt has devastated the pines. It was actually rather depressing, and the park will require decades to recover. The squirrels lost a heaven here in Nebraska, and we lost much of a great picnic area.

I walked through the OPPD arboretum last weekend just east of 108th and Blondo, and the pine wilt has attacked it with a vengeance.

[Uffda]

I noticed it also tonight on I-680 between Dodge and Blair High road --- there are going to be a lot of trees that are going to need to be taken down.

[freedomfighter]

Contact the Mayor's hotline. They can help with the tree issue.

Telephone (402) 444-5555 (Voice)
(402) 996-8490 (TTY / TDD)

EMail [email protected]

Fax (402) 444-7963

Mail The Mayor's Hotline
Civic Center - Suite 304
1819 Farnam St
Omaha NE 68183-0304

[omahastylee459]

Ive noticed a lot of pine trees on the east side of UNO that have been turning brown, it would be a shame to have all these trees cut down on campus. If there is no treatment is there any way to spray trees to prevent this pest?

[freedomfighter]

Ive noticed a lot of pine trees on the east side of UNO that have been turning brown, it would be a shame to have all these trees cut down on campus. If there is no treatment is there any way to spray trees to prevent this pest?

I wonder if what the Douglas County Extension would say (http://douglas-sarpy.unl.edu/) I would not be surprised if the wet weather going dry has stressed the pine trees out causing them to be susceptible to disease. Might be worth a call.

[Uffda]

Pine Wilt Disease
by Don Janssen, Extension Educator



Sudden death of Scotch pines (Scots pine) or some other evergreens may be Pine Wilt Disease caused by the pinewood nematode. Other pine species occasionally killed by pine wilt include Austrian (Pinus nigra), jack (P. banksiana), mugo (P. mugo), and red (P. resinosa) pines, and rarely in white pine (P. strobus). In the Midwest more than 90 percent of the trees killed by pine wilt have been Scotch pine. In Nebraska an estimated 5000 pines have been killed

Pine wilt is caused by a microscopic, worm-like organism called the pinewood nematode. These nematodes live in pines and are carried from tree to tree by insects called pine sawyer beetles. Once inside the tree, the nematode disrupts the flow of sap, causing the tree to turn brown and die.

http://lancaster.unl.edu/hort/Articles/ ... Wilt.shtml



http://tinyurl.com/62sujp

These three photos were taken from August 20 to Sept 2 2003 so you can see infected trees go quickly

[omahastylee459]

Ive noticed a concerning trend on my morning shuttle bus ride from UNO south campus up to main campus. It seems that a large majority of pines throughout Elmwood Park and the UNO campus are turning brown. Enough that if they had to be cut down it would make a very noticeable difference.

[Brad]

Ive noticed a concerning trend on my morning shuttle bus ride from UNO south campus up to main campus. It seems that a large majority of pines throughout Elmwood Park and the UNO campus are turning brown. Enough that if they had to be cut down it would make a very noticeable difference.

I talked to a guy about that from UNO on Saturday. That is really going to change the look of the whole area including the football stadium! He said they were going fast.

[Brad]

I am noticing a lot more this summer. All over between 90th and 120th and from Dodge to Center.

[S33]

I noticed it in Fremont and Mills County the other day, too.

[RockHarbor]

I'm so upset by this. I really like pine trees. They are so subject to pests and disease, though. I've always enjoyed that area of town, just north of Westroads. I think 102nd Street is one of the prettiest streets in town to drive down.

[Brad]

Drought erasing evergreens from palette of Great Plains

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130320/N ... eat-plains

Evergreens, with their splash of green in drab Nebraska winters, have become the first to die as historic drought and its shadow, climate change, redefine the trees that can survive the Great Plains' extreme weather.

The rapid decline of trees, even species believed to be hardy enough to survive in Nebraska, is worrisome given that another hot, dry year may be unfolding.

[Brad]

Pine trees closest to Westroads may suffer from 'convection oven' effect

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130329/N ... ven-effect

Drive north on 102nd Street just past Westroads Mall, and the victims of drought, disease and a few too many splashes of salt from the road are hard to miss.

A stretch of dead, rust-colored pine trees lining the street has been marked by the City of Omaha for removal. By May, they'll be gone, like pine trees all over the city that have been hit by a perfect combination of tree-killing forces.

“It's a huge issue we have across the whole city,” said Brook Bench, Omaha's acting parks director. “They're continuing to die. We've taken out over 300 pine trees at Fontenelle Park already, and 102nd Street is a stretch of (Scots) and Austrian pines that are all doomed. We have them in parks, in right of ways. Homeowners have them.”

[Uffda]

Pine trees closest to Westroads may suffer from 'convection oven' effect

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130329/N ... ven-effect

Drive north on 102nd Street just past Westroads Mall, and the victims of drought, disease and a few too many splashes of salt from the road are hard to miss.

A stretch of dead, rust-colored pine trees lining the street has been marked by the City of Omaha for removal. By May, they'll be gone, like pine trees all over the city that have been hit by a perfect combination of tree-killing forces.

“It's a huge issue we have across the whole city,” said Brook Bench, Omaha's acting parks director. “They're continuing to die. We've taken out over 300 pine trees at Fontenelle Park already, and 102nd Street is a stretch of (Scots) and Austrian pines that are all doomed. We have them in parks, in right of ways. Homeowners have them.”

I think it is kind of a misleading title. They also should look at 180th between pacific and Center. The pines line both sides and they are going brown quickly.

[omadweller]

That's rough loosing so many trees. Scot pines have always been mal-adapted to our climate as far as I remember, but it's very bad now.