Hi, Last year the tree looked fine. You are right, it is usually the last tree to leaf out every spring / summer. But this year, there are branches with no leaves. The tree is in our lawn on the side of our house, and we have not fertilized much at all in the last 5 years. Someone recommended "Tree & shrub food = 19-8-10" to try out on the tree. So maybe if i just water and fertilize the "dead" branches will produce again? thanks, dennis

This oak was growing on the grounds of a rest area on a high bluff very close to the Appalachicola River - the soil appeared to be dry and very well drained. I know what you mean about those orange acorns, jqpublic - the ones I pick up from what I've assumed are red oaks on my property are orange inside, orangy brown on the outside. The acorns under this oak were small and mostly plain brown with only a few of them showing orange on the cap side. I went outside and picked up leaves on my property from what I've assumed were southern red oaks and post oaks. I don't know if my red oaks are q. falcata or q. pagodifolia - the red oak leaves are on the left. The leaves on the Appalachicola oak didn't look the same, they were still green combined with some red, whereas my red oaks never have pretty color, just green or brown. Of course, this may have to do with the growing conditions. I'm beginning to think there are more hybrids out there than I realized, which is logical, since these oaks were all growing near other, different type oaks. I'll be planting up the acorns today - I'll probably be even more confused when they come up, so I'll just pick the most vigorous and/or interesting looking to plant. Sherry

If it's a big enough tree, I'd seriously suggest hiring a certified arborist. Trees are a big investment and I don't try to second guess treatment if I'm not confident enough about what's causing it. We tried to grow a medium-sized Shumard Red Oak two springs ago, and in the span of one year it died from a double whammy of slime flux and borers. It was a messy and depressing death, and it was obvious by about mid summer that the tree wasn't going to turn around. One thing I've learned from arborists is that too much water looks the same as not enough -- you'll get the same burnt tip appearance on leaves. I'm not saying you're watering too much, that's just the other side of the coin. There's all sorts of other factors that can cause browning, so you'd have to get someone to look at the whole tree, see what the leaves look like from bottom to top, check the soil around the tree, see if anyone's spraying anything in your neighborhood, check the leaves against diseases, etc.

Shumard (q. shumardii) and Texas red oak (q. buckleyi) are both also in the red oak group, so question is what species of red oak you have. Photos of back side of leaf, terminal bud, bark, and acorns (once you get some) can help in telling the reds apart, because it's often not obvious... and even more confusing when they hybridize. May find more who are good at this over on the GW Trees forum. Your tree looks really nice at three years regardless of its pedigree. The big box stores have gotten better at stocking trees that do well locally, so less likely to be selling a Nuttall's (now q. texana) or some northern red in alkaline FW. Might look into Tubakia Leaf Spot fungus to see if it matches your tree's symptoms.