Protect Your Trees From Common Diseases in Kansas City
Short answer: The tree problems that do the most damage in Kansas City are emerald ash borer, iron chlorosis in alkaline clay, oak wilt, bacterial leaf scorch, cankers and root rot, plus pine wilt on Scots and Austrian pines. Most summer pests you can see, like tent caterpillars, webworms and cicada killer wasps, look worse than they are. Watering in drought, mulch and pruning dead wood are the best defense.
Kansas City trees deal with a particular mix of problems: an invasive beetle, alkaline clay, wet springs and hot, dry summers. Here are the ones that do the most damage and what you can do about each.
On this page (13 sections)
Emerald Ash Borer
The biggest threat in the metro. The beetle’s larvae tunnel under the bark and cut off the tree’s water. An untreated ash usually dies within a few years of infestation. A healthy ash with more than half its crown can be protected with a trunk injection every 2 years, at about $10 to $15 per inch of trunk diameter; a 20-inch ash costs roughly $200 to $300 per treatment. That is far less than removal at $1,000 to $3,000+. See emerald ash borer treatment.
Iron Chlorosis
Yellow leaves with green veins, mostly on pin oaks, river birches and some maples. Our alkaline soil locks up iron. Trunk injections and soil treatments help for a few years; badly declined trees may need replacing. See pin oak chlorosis.
Oak Wilt
A fungus that kills red oaks fast. Avoid pruning oaks from April through July. More in oak tree diseases.
Bacterial Leaf Scorch
Browning leaf edges in late summer on pin and red oaks, a little worse each year. Treatment slows it.
Anthracnose
Brown blotches on sycamore, ash, oak and maple leaves after wet springs. Usually cosmetic. Rake and remove fallen leaves.
Cankers
Sunken, cracked areas of bark, often on stressed trees or around old wounds. Prune out infected branches in dry weather.
Root Rot
Common in clay that stays wet. Mushrooms at the base, a thinning crown and a lean that gets worse are warning signs. A tree with root rot can fall in calm weather.
Prevention
- Plant the right tree in the right spot; avoid ash and pin oak in new plantings.
- Water deeply in drought.
- Mulch the root zone and keep mowers off the trunk.
- Prune dead and diseased wood regularly with our trimming and pruning service.
- Have suspicious trees looked at early by an arborist, or book a hazardous tree evaluation.
When It Is Too Late
Some trees cannot be saved. Read signs your tree may need removal, see tree removal, and when the tree is down, our stump grinding guide covers what comes next. An overgrown tree is its own problem; see how overgrown trees affect your property.
Where We Work
Overland Park, Leawood, Prairie Village, Olathe, Shawnee, Lenexa, Independence, Raytown and the rest of the metro.
Summer Pests: Which Ones Matter
- Cicada killer wasps: large wasps digging holes in bare soil and lawns in July. They hunt cicadas, rarely sting people and do not hurt trees.
- Eastern tent caterpillars: white silk tents in branch forks of cherries and crabapples in early spring. The tree leafs out again. Pull the tents out with a stick on a cool morning.
- Fall webworms: loose webs over branch ends in late summer, mostly cosmetic; see bagworms and webworms.
- Borers: the ones that kill trees. They live under the bark, where you cannot see them until the crown thins, exit holes appear, woodpeckers work the bark or the bark splits.
- Pine wilt: a Scots or Austrian pine that turns brown all at once in late summer usually has pine wilt, caused by a tiny nematode carried by pine sawyer beetles. There is no cure for an infected tree. Remove it promptly so the beetles do not spread it to nearby pines.
- Leaf miners, spider mites and scale: make leaves look bad but rarely kill a healthy tree. Spider mites get worse in hot, dry summers; watering helps more than spraying.
Pulling tents, pruning webs and hosing off mites are fine to do yourself. Treatment on a large tree, anything that needs a trunk injection, and any tree you are not sure about is a job for a professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the most common tree diseases in Kansas City?
Iron chlorosis, oak wilt, bacterial leaf scorch, anthracnose, cankers and root rot, along with emerald ash borer, the biggest insect threat.
How do I know if my tree has a disease?
Leaves browning, spotting or dropping out of season, a crown thinning from the top, cankers or oozing on the bark, and mushrooms at the base are the signs to have looked at.
Related Reading
Not sure what your tree needs? Kansas City Tree Care is a family-owned tree service in Kansas City. Read our reviews on Google Maps, call 913-894-4767, or start at our homepage.
About Kansas City Tree Care
Kansas City Tree Care was founded in 1996 by Zach Johnson, who has worked in the tree trade since 1990. Our crews cover more than 30 cities across the Kansas City metro from our office at 1505 Merriam Lane in Kansas City, KS.