Sudden Oak Death
Sudden Oak Death is caused by a fungus-like invasive plant pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum, and most commonly affects live oak, black oak, and canyon oak trees.
This waterborne mold pathogen infiltrates plants and trees through contaminated irrigation water, wind-blown rain, infected plants, and contaminated pots and soil mixes. This fungus is also associated with other tree wellness issues like Ramorum leaf blight, Ramorum dieback, and Phytophthora canker.
Signs of Sudden Oak Death: 
- Foliage discoloration
- Leaf spots
- Twig/shoot dieback
- Tree dieback
- Trunk cankers
- Seeping black/reddish ooze on bark
Trunk cankers most commonly lead to oak death especially when compounded with bark beetle infestations in already susceptible trees.
Sudden Oak Death is difficult to differentiate from other pathogens. Luckily, our expert arborists know the signs.
Contact SavATree today to:
- Identify infected trees. Healthy trees nearby and/or in the same watershed may need preventive treatments to suppress the spread.
- Proactively treat trees for health and disease-resistance.
- Prevent infection of healthy oak trees by inspecting neighboring plants that may be alternate hosts of the disease. P. ramorum can manifest itself as a nonfatal leaf or twig blight on more than 40 known plants – including California bay laurel, poison oak, red tip photinia, and rhododendron – and facilitate the spread of the pathogen.
SavATree offers bark disease treatments to help combat this major threat. These trunk applications help trees induce an immune response to the disease. Arborists will examine the condition of an infected tree and recommend one to two applications in the spring and fall seasons depending on the severity of the disease.
