Ball Moss

[TxEx90]

I just moved into a house in NW Hills (Austin) and the oak trees in the yard are full of ball moss. The quickie internet research I did shows it to be more of a cosmetic problem, but it is an ugly one at that.

Anyone have any good "home remedies" for ball moss that don't involve spraying down the entire yard with some chemical and then waiting for it all to shrivel up and/or drop off?

 

[gecko]

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[Spry]

I grabbed this off a site I visited a while back. No home remedies, though.

Q. I enjoyed hearing you discuss control of the ball moss which grows on live oak limbs. What was the name of the product which you said should be sprayed on in February-March to kill the ball moss?

A. The product is named Kocide 101 and it should be applied at the rate of 4 pounds in 100 gallons of water. If you are going to treat large trees I recommend you rent a tank sprayer available at some rental places. Kocide is a blue product which will not stain bricks or concrete as will iron sulfate but will discolor what it comes into contact with for a period of time. Moss will not immediately fall from the tree but deteriorates over a period of time. Severe infestations may require multiple applications over a 2-3 year period.

 

[TxEx90]

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[Mrmyke709]

Step 1: Grab pole saw.
Step 2: Begin knocking the little ******** down.
Repeat Step 2 as needed.

 

[tropheus]

is ball moss destructive to oak trees?

 

[Horn9497]

I bought a house in January that had ball moss everywhere. I had a tree guy come out and he said it wasn't a big deal and that it typically grew on limbs that were in need of trimming--lower limbs that were shaded by higher limbs and where leaf growth was limited due to the lack of sunlight. We needed to get the trees trimmed (it had probably been 10 years) and that cleared up all of the ball moss.

 

[gecko]

Check this out...I decided to actuualy look up ball moss and look where I found the lead article in Google...

Ball Moss

 

[horn4life]

Chain saw on a stick... $100
28 Foot extension ladder... $200
Up to date health insurance... priceless

Actually I have done a ton on trimming on my trees with the good lod chainsaw on a stick and a variety of ladders. The ball moss is nearly always on the lims that need to be removed anyhow. If you take that route just try to seal all of the tree wounds as best you can with tree dressing, especially the larger ones to prevent Oak Wilt

WARNING!!!! If you decide to EVER rent any cutting tool like a chainsaw or pruning tool make sure and clean it thoroughly with rubbing alcohol to prevent passing on oak wilt from some other tree to your trees!!!!

 

[TxEx90]

Yeah, my rotator cuff problems notwithstanding, I think the manual method is preferable to spraying down all my trees with blue goo. Oak wilt is a huge problem in my neighborhood, so I may just live with it until the winter. But damn, it sure is ugly!

 

[horn4life]

Oak wilt is actually a virus I think that is spread by some sort of small beetle that is supposed to be most active in the Spring and fall. So heat of summer and dead of winter are good times to cut.

oddly enough the oak wilt virus is usally transmittted from Red Oaks to Live Oaks or via the intertwined root system of an infected tree with a healthy tree. Or via tree trimming contractors that do not clean their tools. ARGH!

 

[sapo1495]

I've heard that a solution of baking soda in a sprayer you attach to the end of the hose will work. Don't know the % solution though.