Hi everyone,
One of my favorite trees, a mature canyon live oak, was being threatened with Sudden Oak Death(sod) by neighboring bay laurels. This oak is likely >200 years old, perched on a steep hillside (up to 70% grade), and plays a vital role in its ecosystem and the transition between grassland and old-growth douglas fir on the other side of the hill. I found it in october, when the bays were just sprouting, and after an rain event of around 3 inches in november, a couple more bay shrubs sprouted on the hillside below it, and one grew >2 feet right up to the branch that is almost perfectly flat in the photo (I like to sit here from time to time as one of my "secret spots"). I noticed a couple of lesions on the leaves of the bays on the hillside and decided to cut all of their shoots down out of fear of SOD. First, can anyone confirm this is SOD, and if so, is there any other steps I should take to preventing the propagation of SOD in this area? I noticed an canyon oak sapling right next to the bays that had some damaged leaves but looked otherwise healthy, this is the only other possible vector for SOD on that hillside should I remove it? Thank you for the help.
One of my favorite trees, a mature canyon live oak, was being threatened with Sudden Oak Death(sod) by neighboring bay laurels. This oak is likely >200 years old, perched on a steep hillside (up to 70% grade), and plays a vital role in its ecosystem and the transition between grassland and old-growth douglas fir on the other side of the hill. I found it in october, when the bays were just sprouting, and after an rain event of around 3 inches in november, a couple more bay shrubs sprouted on the hillside below it, and one grew >2 feet right up to the branch that is almost perfectly flat in the photo (I like to sit here from time to time as one of my "secret spots"). I noticed a couple of lesions on the leaves of the bays on the hillside and decided to cut all of their shoots down out of fear of SOD. First, can anyone confirm this is SOD, and if so, is there any other steps I should take to preventing the propagation of SOD in this area? I noticed an canyon oak sapling right next to the bays that had some damaged leaves but looked otherwise healthy, this is the only other possible vector for SOD on that hillside should I remove it? Thank you for the help.