About
My name is Mike Standridge and I’m a local owner of Tribemania Tree Services. First and foremost, I am not a licensed arborist by choice. My true passion relates to oak trees and how to mitigate and prevent diseases that these trees suffer from. Becoming an arborist involves spanning many topics outside of oak trees and I want to keep my efforts and knowledge focused specifically to the oaks.
I have had numerous conversations with Dr. David Appel at Texas A&M. Dr. Appel is a professor and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialist with the Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology. After an initial conversation and healthy debate about issues with the oak population in the eco system here at Canyon Lake, Dr. Appel asked if I was a licensed arborist. I responded by saying no, I was just a tree guy. He immediately responded that because of my hands-on experience in this field and local eco system involving the oak species, I was an arborist in my own right. He encouraged me to join the ISA so that I can share what I’ve learned. He also said that it was important for me to continue to educate people in the community about what I’m learning and developing in this field.
For 6 years now I’ve been aggressively doing just that. Very seldom does a day go by that I do not study and observe the oak population in this area. It’s a passion that I believe is a gift and blessing from God my Father. From a stewardship role, I sincerely want to impact the local tree population in a positive way by learning how to effectively mitigate stress leading to oak decline and oak wilt, two enemies of the oak population.
I have found that the oaks in this area are declining in health each year instead of progressing. Based upon my research, I believe the primary cause is “stress” which is connected to a disease called oak decline. Oak decline is a different disease than oak wilt. In short, oak decline is stress driven and it can be mitigated. Oak wilt on the other hand, is caused by a fungus which has no cure.
From my research, I’ve developed proven techniques and practices that will successfully mitigate both oak decline and oak wilt. For example, my shape and balance cutting pattern and root inoculation has successfully mitigated stress in hundreds oak trees for local property owners.
As an ISA member, I have read every publication available in my ongoing study of oak wilt and have had many conversations with the men at Texas A&M and the State Forest Service, along with other arborists to try and understand oak wilt and what has been done to mitigate the problem. Much of my research has led me to filter out what has not worked in our fight against oak wilt. This in turn, has played a major role in the development of my newest offering, oak wilt monitoring membership. This membership offers identification and monitoring of oak wilt hot spots in the area. We are currently tracking several active oak wilt hot spots that are all within a 10 mile range from the Canyon Lake area, with one of these hot spots already in our back yard. To find out more about what is included in our new offering, you can visit the Oak Wilt Monitoring page.
My hope is to continue to educate and connect with other people in our community to work towards the conservation of our oak trees. This is a task that will require the efforts of many people and multiple businesses. I believe that if we come together as a community, we can mitigate the inevitable demise of one of the most beautiful assets that we own.
—Mike
We are a proud member of the Texas Chapter of International Society of Arboriculture.
