Tree work here is not generic tree work. Central Texas has one disease that kills mature oaks faster than anything else in the country, and the main way it spreads is a pruning cut made in the wrong month. Everything else in tree care matters; that one thing decides whether your canopy survives.
We prune, remove and assess trees across Austin, Cedar Park, Leander, Round Rock and the surrounding towns.
Oak wilt is the most destructive tree disease in Central Texas. It spreads through fresh pruning wounds, carried by beetles that are most active in those months. The Texas A&M Forest Service asks homeowners to avoid oak pruning during that window entirely. And whatever the month, paint every oak wound immediately after cutting. Not a week later. Immediately.
Two routes, and they call for different responses.
Above ground: sap-feeding beetles pick up fungal spores from infected red oaks and carry them to fresh wounds on healthy trees. That is why the pruning window matters and why wound paint works.
Below ground: live oaks growing near each other fuse roots and share a connected system. Once one is infected, the fungus moves tree to tree underground, which is why oak wilt kills in expanding patches rather than randomly. Stopping that requires severing the root connections with a trench, and it has to be done ahead of the spread, not after.
Red oaks matter out of proportion to their number: they die quickly and produce the fungal mats the beetles feed on. A dead red oak on a property is not just a loss, it is a source. Removing it promptly protects the live oaks around it.
The signature tree of this area and the one most at risk. Root-grafted to its neighbors, long-lived, and worth protecting above almost anything else on a property. Prune only in the safe window and paint every cut.
Both common and both tolerant of our soil. Cedar elm handles clay well. Pecans are heavy feeders and prone to limb drop, which makes structural pruning while young worth the money.
The local “cedar.” Often cleared for fire safety, views or allergy reasons. Worth thinking through before removing everything: on thin caliche it may be holding what little soil there is.
Mature trees here rarely die from one bad summer. They die from several, with an opportunistic problem finishing the job. Hypoxylon canker is the usual finisher: it lives harmlessly on many oaks and only takes over once drought has weakened the tree. By the time bark is sloughing off in patches, the decline started years earlier.
What actually helps is unglamorous. Water mature trees deeply during extended drought, out at the drip line rather than at the trunk. Mulch the root zone, keeping mulch off the trunk itself. And keep string trimmers away from the base, because repeated bark damage at ground level does more harm than most people believe.
Do: remove dead, damaged and crossing limbs. Build good structure while a tree is young, which is when it is cheap. Raise the canopy for clearance. Cut just outside the branch collar so the tree can close the wound.
Do not: top a tree. Cutting the crown back to stubs — including the crape myrtle version people do every winter — forces weak regrowth, invites decay and permanently ruins structure. Removing more than about a quarter of the canopy in one season stresses even a healthy tree.
Sometimes it is: a dead red oak that will produce spore mats, a tree with significant trunk decay over a house, one leaning after root damage, or a species planted where it was never going to work. Removal near structures, power lines or over septic fields is not DIY work.
What we will tell you, and some will not: many trees flagged as dangerous are not. A hollow trunk alone is not a death sentence, and neither is a lean the tree grew into over decades. An assessment before a quote is worth having.
Canopy decides what will grow beneath it. Deep oak shade rules out most turf, which is why forcing grass under a live oak usually fails and shade-tolerant planting succeeds. Root zones also shape irrigation layout and drainage work, and any hardscaping near a mature tree needs planning so the patio does not slowly kill it.
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Avoid February through June. That is when the beetles that spread oak wilt are most active, and fresh pruning wounds are how the disease enters. Fall and winter are the safe window. Paint every oak wound immediately regardless of month.
The most destructive tree disease in Central Texas. It spreads two ways: beetles carrying spores to fresh wounds, and underground through roots that fuse between neighbouring live oaks. That second route is why it kills in expanding patches rather than randomly.
Generally no. Most trees seal wounds better on their own. Oaks in Central Texas are the exception because of oak wilt, and there the paint should go on immediately after cutting, not later that day.
No. Cutting a canopy back to stubs forces weak regrowth, invites decay and permanently ruins structure. That includes the crape myrtle version done across Central Texas every winter. Correct pruning removes no more than about a quarter of the canopy in a season.
Possibly, but drought stress and hypoxylon canker produce similar symptoms. Oak wilt in live oaks shows veinal necrosis, where leaf veins brown while tissue between stays greener, and it advances as a front across neighbouring trees. Get it identified before treating.
If you have oaks and you are unsure whether to prune, ask before you cut. The timing matters more than the technique.
