21 WINTER TEXAN TIMES www.wintertexantimes.com FEBRUARY 12, 2025 Steel Mobile Home Roofing sales@southernbuildersar.onmicrosoft.com 50 Acre RV Park Lazy Palms Ranch, it’s what life is all about. Where the sound of silence is still heard and where the country’s natural splendor has no bounds. Lazy Palms Ranch is the R.V. Ranch you’ll want to call home for a day, a week or for the season. ACTIVITIES: Shuffleboard • Horseshoes • Bocce Ball • Card Games • Live Entertainment Bake and Craft Sales • Pot Lucks • Dominoes • Poker • Pool Tables • Bingo www.lazypalmsranch.com manager@lazypalmsranch.com (956) 383-1020 FEATURES: Large Rv & Park Model Sites • Bird/Natural Life Year Round Game Room • Pool Tables • Walking Trails • Exercise Equipment Pet Friendly • Church Services on Sundays • Pool & Spa Stocked Fishing Pond 50+ Park Community 35100 Lazy Palm Dr. Edinburg, TX 78541 Spacious Country Living At It’s Best! First Time Guests Pay For 2 Nights Get 3rd Night FREE! Come Check Us Out! Our Guests Make The Difference! Annual Rate $1,260/yr Exp. 3/12/2025 A r ” e A , t s , e y m Prevent the spread of oak wilt in Texas COLLEGE STATION, Texas— Oak wilt is one of the deadliest tree diseases in the United States, killing millions of trees across 76 Texas counties. Texans can help prevent it from spreading by avoiding pruning or wounding oak trees from February through June. “Prevention is key to stopping the spread of oak wilt,” said Demian Gomez, Texas A&M Forest Service Regional Forest Health Coordinator. “Any new wound on an oak tree can be an entry point for infection including those produced by pruning, construction activities, livestock, land or cedar clearing, lawnmower, string trimmers and storms.” Small insects, called sap beetles, move spores of oak wilt fungus to new trees and are very active in late winter and early spring. Because of this, pruning or wounding trees should be avoided from February through June and no matter the time of year, all oak tree wounds should be painted immediately. Oak wilt is caused by the fungus Bretziella fagacearum. The fungus invades the xylem, the water-conducting vessels of the trees, and the tree responds by plugging the tissues, resulting in a lack of water to the leaves, slowly killing the infected tree. All oaks are susceptible to oak wilt. Red oaks are the most susceptible and can die in as little as one month after being infected. Live oaks show intermediate susceptibility, whereas white oaks are the least susceptible, but they are not immune to infection. Oak wilt can spread two ways – above ground by sap-feeding beetles or underground through connected roots. The disease spreads above ground by sap beetles more rapidly in late winter and spring because of high fungal mat production and high insect populations. During this time, red oaks that died of the disease last year may produce spore mats under the bark. With a fruity smell, these mats attract small, sap-feeding beetles that can later fly to a fresh wound of any oak tree and infect it, starting a new oak wilt center. The second way oak wilt can spread is underground by traveling through interconnected root See OAK pg. 25 Oak wilt is often recognized in live oaks by yellow and brown veins showing in the leaves of infected trees, known as veinal necrosis. Photo courtesy of Texas A&M Forest Service
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