The Easiest Way to Protect Your Oak Trees in Michigan

Warm temperatures are here and it finally feels like spring. Everyone is getting outdoors as flowers begin to grow and tree buds appear. If you have oak trees on your property, there's one simple thing you can do to help them grow healthy.

What should you do?

Nothing.

More specifically, don't prune your oak trees.

The Michigan DNR says the highest risk of oak wilt disease occurs between April 15 and November 15. The best way to avoid oak wilt is by not pruning or injuring oak trees until they have lost leaves for the winter. That's typically from November through mid-March.

If you absolutely must prune or remove oaks now, or if you have a tree that gets damaged, immediately cover the wounds with tree-wound paint or latex-based paint.

Red oaks are most susceptible to the disease. They have leaves with pointed tips and include black oak, northern red oak and northern pin oak. Trees in the white oak group have rounded leaf edges and include white oak and swamp white oak. They are less susceptible.