Oak wilt was first identified in the early 1940’s in Wisconsin, with subsequent discoveries in Texas (early 1960’s), and New York (mid 2000’s).  The prevailing thought is that oak wilt is a non-native disease, having possibly originated in South or Central America.  It is also believed that the disease had likely spread through much of its current area of infection before its discovery.  Currently, oak wilt is present within 24 states, ranging from Wisconsin south to Texas, east to New York, but not very far south of Tennessee.  There are still large swaths of oak habitat that are unaffected but many new disease centers are reported each year.

Oak wilt is unfortunately a very generic name for a very specific disease.  After all, oak trees can wilt for any number of reasons.  

If you are a consumer wanting to learn more about Oak wilt, visit our consumer site at Trees4Ohio.org.

Several factors and circumstances favor infection and the Ohio Chapter now offers a self-paced virtual training course to learn more. Participants must be an ISA Certified Arborist to complete the course.  The course includes an introduction and 4 modules each consisting of a 30–60-minute webcast, presentation notes, and a quiz. Participants have 3 months to complete the self-paced program and successfully pass each quiz to move to the next module. Students who complete the course will receive 3.5 ISA credits and their names will be included on the Trees4Ohio.org Oak wilt webpage where consumers can easily locate oak wilt educated arborists.