CATS Arborist Albuquerque Tree Health & Disease Management 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which symptom most strongly indicates Verticillium wilt infection in a landscape tree?
- White mycelium visible on bark surface
- Sudden wilting of one branch or side of the tree with green wood staining (Correct answer)
- Yellowing of all leaves simultaneously
- Gall formation on major stems
Correct answer: Sudden wilting of one branch or side of the tree with green wood staining
Verticillium wilt causes sudden, one-sided wilting and produces characteristic olive-green to brown streaking in the sapwood when branches are cross-sectioned.
Question 2: What is the most effective long-term management strategy for a tree with Cytospora canker?
- Apply copper fungicide to all foliage weekly
- Prune infected branches to healthy tissue, improve tree vigor, and avoid wounds (Correct answer)
- Remove all bark on the trunk to expose infected tissue
- Inject antibiotics into the root zone
Correct answer: Prune infected branches to healthy tissue, improve tree vigor, and avoid wounds
Cytospora canker management focuses on pruning infected wood back to healthy tissue, improving tree vigor through proper irrigation and fertilization, and preventing mechanical wounds that serve as entry points.
Question 3: Which assessment tool does an arborist use to detect internal wood decay without damaging the tree?
- Increment borer only
- Resistograph or sonic tomography (Correct answer)
- Soil probe
- Sap flow meter
Correct answer: Resistograph or sonic tomography
A resistograph measures drilling resistance through wood to detect decay pockets, while sonic tomography uses sound wave propagation to map internal cavities without invasive sampling.
Question 4: Fire blight is a bacterial disease that primarily affects which tree families common in Albuquerque landscapes?
- Pinaceae and Cupressaceae
- Rosaceae (apples, pears, flowering crabapples) (Correct answer)
- Fagaceae (oaks)
- Salicaceae (cottonwoods, willows)
Correct answer: Rosaceae (apples, pears, flowering crabapples)
Fire blight, caused by Erwinia amylovora, almost exclusively infects members of the Rosaceae family, including apple, pear, crabapple, and hawthorn.
Question 5: What does a low trunk flare with buried root collar indicate to an arborist assessing tree health?
- The tree was recently transplanted with proper technique
- Improper planting depth or soil buildup that can cause crown and root decay (Correct answer)
- The tree is well-adapted to local soils
- Nitrogen toxicity from over-fertilization
Correct answer: Improper planting depth or soil buildup that can cause crown and root decay
A buried root collar creates persistent moisture against the bark, promoting fungal decay, Phytophthora infection, and girdling root formation, all of which seriously threaten tree longevity.
Question 6: Which nutrient deficiency is most commonly corrected through trunk injection in Albuquerque's high-pH soils?
- Calcium
- Phosphorus
- Iron (Correct answer)
- Nitrogen
Correct answer: Iron
Iron deficiency (chlorosis) is widespread in alkaline Albuquerque soils because iron becomes insoluble above pH 7.5; trunk injection delivers iron directly into the vascular system, bypassing soil chemistry.
Question 7: What is 'phenology' as it relates to tree pest management?
- The chemistry of pesticide breakdown in soil
- The study of seasonal biological events used to time pest control treatments (Correct answer)
- The measurement of pheromone trap catches
- The identification of fungi by their spore morphology
Correct answer: The study of seasonal biological events used to time pest control treatments
Phenology tracks seasonal biological events (bloom times, insect hatch) and is used by arborists to time treatments to pest life cycle stages when they are most vulnerable.
CATS Arborist Albuquerque Tree Health & Disease Management 3
Which symptom most strongly indicates Verticillium wilt infection in a landscape tree?