Oak wilt in Georgetown — find it early, stop it at the roots
One Shumard oak dying in a month, then the live oaks next to it browning along the veins: that's an oak wilt center, and it moves about 75 feet a year through the roots. What you do in the first season decides how many trees you keep.
Oak wilt is a fungus (Bretziella fagacearum) that plugs the water-conducting tissue of oaks, and Williamson County is squarely in its Texas range. It arrives two ways. Above ground, sap-feeding nitidulid beetles pick up spores from the fungal mats that form under the bark of dying red oaks — Shumard, Spanish, blackjack — in the cool wet months, and carry them to fresh wounds on healthy oaks; that's why February through June is the no-prune window. Below ground, it spreads from live oak to live oak through grafted roots, which is how an infection center in one Sun City yard becomes a dead grove across four lots in three years. Red oaks die in four to six weeks. Live oaks decline over months to a couple of years, with the tell-tale veinal necrosis: leaf veins turning yellow then brown while the tissue between stays green, as if someone traced them with a rust-colored marker.
What we do is diagnose it honestly — a lot of "oak wilt" turns out to be drought stress, ball moss shade or hypoxylon canker — and lay out the real options. A dying red oak gets removed and chipped before it can produce spore mats, with the wood never stacked as firewood. Live oaks at the edge of an infection center are candidates for a trench, four to five feet deep, that severs the root grafts and stops the underground spread; that's a contractor with a rock saw or a trencher, and we coordinate it. Healthy live oaks within about 100 feet of the front can be injected with propiconazole by a licensed applicator we work with, which protects the treated tree but doesn't stop the fungus moving past it. And every oak we prune, any month, gets its cuts painted the minute they're made.
What's included
Diagnosis
Symptom reading on site — veinal necrosis, pattern of decline, red oak vs. live oak — with lab confirmation through Texas A&M when it's a judgment call.
Infection-center mapping
Which trees are symptomatic, which are grafted to them, and where the 100-foot buffer falls on your lot and the neighbors'.
Red oak removal & disposal
Dying Shumard and Spanish oaks removed and chipped before spore mats form; no firewood.
Trenching coordination
Root-graft barrier trenches placed and scheduled with a trenching contractor; utility locates through Texas 811.
Injection referral
Propiconazole treatment by a licensed applicator for high-value live oaks ahead of the front.
Painted cuts, every oak
The single cheapest prevention: every pruning cut painted immediately, July–January scheduling for elective work.
Oak wilt evaluation and management cost in Georgetown
| Job | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Arborist oak wilt evaluation & written report | $150 – $350 | Credited toward any work |
| Lab sample & submission (Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab) | $75 – $150 | Plus lab fee |
| Dying red oak removal & chipping (30–50 ft) | $900 – $2,800 | Before spore mats form |
| Trenching coordination (per project) | $250 – $500 | Trenching contractor billed separately, typically $8 – $15 per foot |
| Injection referral | No charge | Applicator typically $10 – $18 per inch of trunk |
| Infected live oak removal (50–70 ft) near a structure | $1,800 – $5,000 | Heritage permit if 26"+; dead trees owe no mitigation |
These are 2026 Williamson County ranges so you can budget. Your written price is itemized — removal, rigging or crane, hauling, stump grinding, any permit paperwork — and good for 30 days.
Recent work
Questions we get about oak wilt evaluation
How can I tell oak wilt from drought stress?
Drought browns leaves from the edges in, all over the tree, and the tree usually recovers with rain. Oak wilt on a live oak browns the veins first — a rust-colored network on a green leaf — and the leaves drop while still partly green. On a red oak, oak wilt is a whole tree going from green to brown in a month in late spring. If you're not sure, send us a photo; our arborist looks at dozens of these a year.
Can an infected live oak be saved?
Sometimes, if it's caught early and it's worth the money. Propiconazole injection can slow or stop symptoms in a live oak that's less than about 30 percent affected, and it protects healthy live oaks ahead of the front for a couple of years per treatment. It does nothing for red oaks and nothing for the fungus already in the roots. Trenching is what actually stops the spread.
Where should the trench go?
Outside the last symptomatic tree by roughly 100 feet, or between the infected trees and the ones you're protecting, four to five feet deep to get below the grafted roots. On Georgetown's limestone that takes a rock saw; on the Blackland clay side a trencher works. Texas 811 has to locate utilities first, and a trench across a lot line needs the neighbor's agreement — the county Extension office (512-943-3300) will often help coordinate a multi-lot project.
Is there a Georgetown rule about oak wilt?
Not a city ordinance beyond Chapter 8's tree rules, but a dead or fatally diseased Heritage oak confirmed by a certified arborist can be removed without mitigation under Section 8.02.030.D, and we write that determination letter. The state-level guidance from Texas A&M Forest Service is the standard everyone follows: no oak pruning February through June, paint every wound, sterilize tools, don't move red oak firewood.
Should I get rid of all my red oaks?
No — healthy Shumard oaks are good trees. What you shouldn't do is leave a red oak that's dying of oak wilt standing through the winter, because that's the tree that grows the spore mats the beetles carry to your live oaks. A dying red oak comes down fast and gets chipped.