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Oak Leaves Research & HLB

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Millet:
UF research into oak lives and HLB to find what is in oak trees that apparently helps citrus cope with HLB.  .  Researchers have found that applying Oak leaves around citrus trees increased phosphorous, magnesium and potassium levels in the soil.  Further as the leaves were broken down, oil organic matter increased plus more water was trapped in the soil. Over the next two years, Hallman and his research partners at the USDA hope to identify which compounds are beneficial, where those compounds are found in the tree, which oak species hold these compounds and how much of the right compounds will control the disease. 

Galatians522:
Millet, did you see where they were making "tea" out of oak leaves and spraying it on the trees? I think it was in Citrus Industry Magazine that I read about it. Apparently it was helping reduce symptoms of greening??? Mulch seems more logical to me. Leaf litter is a natural part of citrus' native environment, so it makes sense that it would contribute to a healthier tree.

Galatians522:
Another benefit of decomposing organic matter is that it creates a hostile environment for nematodes which are an added stress for trees weakened by greening.

850FL:

--- Quote from: Millet on April 26, 2021, 05:02:04 PM ---UF research into oak lives and HLB to find what is in oak trees that apparently helps citrus cope with HLB.  .  Researchers have found that applying Oak leaves around citrus trees increased phosphorous, magnesium and potassium levels in the soil.
--- End quote ---

Deep oak roots might deposit higher concentrations of these elements from down deep up into their leaves and thus those elements find their way to the surface level once fallen from the oak trees? And the acidity and tannins in the leaves probably break down those elements to make them more useful. So perhaps there's a synergistic effect.
Also like you said the oak leaves make a very rich organic humus layer, which many many beneficial fungi bacteria and other microbes thrive in and those microbes greatly help transport nutrients up into roots, and at the same time compete with and suppress nematodes.

Also maybe with foliar spraying the oak tannins contain compounds that have some suppressive effect on the virus?

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