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Shumard Red Oak dying?

17 years ago

Can someone look at these pictures and tell me what I can do to help my tree? I'm new at this, and don't even know how to take care of it. My neighbor gave it to me about 5 years ago, and he planted it. It hasn't grown tall, but the trunk has grown thicker. I call this a Pin Oak, but he gave me the tag from the tree and it says "Shumard Red Oak"

The tree appears to be dying. The small branches that do produce leaves - it seems like the leaf color is light green and sickly. they're small too. There are other branches that have no leaves at all and look dead. There are some tiny white spots on the branches and trunk.

is this tree being attacked by fungus? or does it just need some fertilizer?

Any help would be appreciated. thanks, dennis

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Comments (4)

Iris GW
17 years ago
How did it look last year? We have a Shumard oak at the elementary school and it is always the last to leaf out. That could be your situation. The "white" spots could just be natural discolorations, I would not necessarily be concerned based on your pictures. Is this tree planted in a lawn or a natural area? If a lawn and the grass is being fertilized, it probably doesn't need any extra.
piddlerdad3
Original Author
17 years ago
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
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Here is the 3rd picture of the white spots on the Red Oak. Image link:
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@formandfoliage: Enjoyed the related Frost poem. Thanks! It's in the public domain in the US, so have provided a link in case others are curious. @ken_adrian: I've observed similar differences even around our relatively small city lot and agree that most variations in leaf coverage we see at any moment among the same type trees are likely explained by your points. The difference with our specific tree is not that it drops its leaves a few days or weeks after the other deciduous oaks, but that it holds them until the Live Oaks drop theirs in the spring. This additional 3 or 4 months of dead leaf retention seems to be a difference in behavior beyond what you've been speaking of in the more general case. I made a foot search and found an older tree with the same marcescence in a cul-de-sac I rarely visit. It's actually not that far from us through the trees and over the rooftops as the squirrel runs, so could be our tree's parent. I can't tell one red from another this time of year, but will take a stab at it once things leaf out and see if any of the currently bare neighbors are also Shumardii. Here is a link that might be useful: Reluctance by Robert Frost (1913) This post was edited by bostedo on Wed, Feb 27, 13 at 17:50
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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.
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It's good to know that peeling bark is normal. I haven't observed that yet on this tree but I won't worry if it does start to do that. Regarding watering I've been watering it every day since planting. I couple days here I'll probably slow that down to every third day for a couple iterations and then go to a normal watering cycle of once a week. As of today there aren't any wilted are brown leaves so I guess it wasn't too shocked by all the root work I had to do. Regarding the mulch. I use planner shavings as mulch. They are inferior to normal large wood chunk mulch but are free and keep the ground moist. This planting I was running low on shavings and mixed in some shredded paper. I've read on line that paper shreds make a great mulch around trees. I find that it's not so great and tends mat down into a hard paper mache. So I mixed it in with the shavings and that seemed to work decently.
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pineresin
17 years ago
I'd say it is probably suffering from one or more of:

Being planted badly (too deep)

A potbound plant with self-girdling roots

Planted in heavily compacted soil

Being strangled by grass and/or damaged by mowers getting in too close

My best remedy: clear the grass away from a circle a meter in radius round the tree, and put down a layer of organic mulch about 5cm thick, now and every six months for the next 5 years at least.

Resin
piddlerdad3
Original Author
17 years ago
Hello Resin,
Thanks for the advice. This makes sense. I'll clear away the grass to a certain point and use the mulch. Will fertilize also.

thanks again,
dennis

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