Worms, fungi wreak havoc on pine trees in Oklahoma
Nematodes, tiny worms, get to pine trees on the backs of beetles and kill trees. The trees most susceptible to pine wilt are aged and/or non-native species.
A disease called pine wilt is being blamed for an outbreak of dead and dying pine trees across the state.
Ray Ridlen, agriculture and horticulture educator for the Oklahoma County Extension Service, said the first documented cases of pine wilt were in 1979 in Columbia, Mo., and in the past 10 years, Oklahoma has seen a rise in infected trees.
"There have been a lot of places in Oklahoma where the mortality rate of trees in one area can be 100 percent," he said.
Pine wilt is caused by two insects, the pinewood nematode, a microscopic worm, that travels on the back of the pine sawyer beetle.
The nematodes feed on the living plant cells around water-conducting passages of pines.
Japanese black pine, Scot pine and Austrian pine are most susceptible to pine wilt, while native pines seem to have developed resistance to the disease.
"In extreme situations, there could be a chance they could be at risk too," said Mark Bays, Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry urban forestry coordinator.
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