Here in the Twin Cities we have a problem with oak wilt, http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/fidls/oakwilt/oakwilt.htm

Since the spores are active during the growing season, we have three parts of the calendar to prune in. Red/Danger-no
prune-April through June Yellow/Caution July through the time that the bugs outside are killed by frost or cold weather.
Green/Pruning time-the rest of the year. I understand that the picnic beetle and its cronies are attracted to the smell of the
oaks and will slough off the fungus when they burrow into a healthy oak. That is one of the reasons that we don't prune
during the growing season.

In the past, I have not had any problem with doing oak removals at any time of the year. There are some rumblings that by
doing a removal and chipping the brush, we are putting a lot of "oak odor" in the air and attracting the bugs to the area. In
some way, this makes sense to me. But I am trying to find out if anyone has experience with this idea when dealing with other
tree diseases.

If I have a high hazard oak to remove, I will remove it ASAP. The risk of property damage or injury is off set by the health
of the rest of the trees. It is an acceptable risk, to me.

Somethin' happened when we fell out of the trees
Took a look around and straightened our knees
***Colin Leyden-Miracle of Mine

Tom

Reply to post by Tom Dunlap, on May 31, 2001 at 19:52:28:

How about putting that odor to work for you?
If it indeed draws the pests, oak debris could be put in a place with no oaks, but perhaps some kind of trap.
Could this be a research opportunity --measuring the number of disease-transmitting insects drawn to oak debris?
It could either turn out a new kind of insect control, or at least determine the veracity of the "attracting" theory.