Pic of roots.

Moss on trunk.

If those green leaves on the ground fell off the tree without any pruning etc from you, it is toast. If you pruned and that is why the green leaves are on the ground. I would cut through the root that is kinda like a crooked circle. I would make it so they aren't joined like that. And I would prune off the open faced branch. If there are other bad injuries, I would start thinking about counting it a loss. I had a red or nuttals oak (well still have) that had joining roots. It was among a few trees I planted a while before I really got obsessed with them. I sliced the rootball but missed some on top. I fixed a big surface circling root by just cutting it twice, so it wouldn't circle. If you think it will bother you if you don't replace it, replace it. The moss looks normal for a live oak near the coast, I have seen that when I went to Florida. Normal growth cracks. Maybe someone who has a live oak of that size can help, I have a seedling of a possible hybrid, pretty small yet.

Your live oak is likely dormant now. I would try removing soil, as your's is probably sandy. I would try to see more root structure, maybe put the eventual backfill in a wheel barrow and see how the roots are. I would get a friend to help hold the tree upright while you try and see if the roots are circling down below. I am assuming you have sandy soil, because of moss on your trunk. I may be wrong but that makes me think of the coast. Maybe the tree is bigger than I am thinking, but sandy soil should be easy to dig up, if you have sandy soil.

You've a root problem. The trunk isn't girdled from what is viewable, but it may have been planted too deeply and there could be trunk girdling beneath the soil.

At any rate, there's no way a tree that size should be able to rock back and forth such as you're describing. Pull the plug!

And moss & lichen bears no concern, btw. That lesion.... I don't know what caused that. It looks like it healed well until the furthest point that now looks like rot setting in.

Dax

You aren't showing us the big picture. I'd like a picture or two from a little bit of distance so that we can get an idea of the overall conditon and structure.

Those roots, however, are a big problem. These look past the point where root pruning will help. The fact that the tree isn't stable in the ground is very telling.

What is the soil like? What is the consistancy at the bottom of a deep planting hole?

this is what happens ... and thank god we can talk about the prior owner.. and not you.. lol ...

when you go for instant gratification on size...

over buying a decent size.. translatable tree ... healthy tree ...

if you like to experiment ... i am sure these peeps can come up with all kinds of experiments ...

i on the other hand.. would be looking to get a new tree ... say a 5 to 6 footer .... and get it planted ..... so it can get on with its life ... and start to grow like a tree is supposed to ...

w/o the pic of the greater whole ... but seeing the fence .. i would not want this thing within say.. 100 feet of my house .... it will only fail ... when it is 60 feet tall.. and it falls ..wait for it ... on your house in the next decade strong storm.. and kills you in your sleep [though one wonders why you are sleeping thru the next hurricane.. lol]

get rid of it ... and when you do.. clean off the root mass.. and post us some pix ... so we can be horrified ...

the original harm here.. was that it was grown in its pot.. for 3 to 5 years too long ... and that was why it was instant gratification for the original buyer ....

ken

More of the story...

I'm in southwest Austin. As far as I know, we have maybe a couple feet of rocky clay over bedrock. That would be typical in this part of town anyway.

In our area, moss isn't normal on oaks, or any other trees for that matter. Usually it seems to be on older or stressed trees.

The leaves on the ground are from pruning. The tree looks ok from a distance. The problems become apparent when you get up close.

There were two Monterrey Oaks planted in the yard at the same time and they're much larger, with no moss and they don't rock either. It leads me to believe something's up with this tree not establishing well...

It's rotting. I'm sure the moss/lichen are attracted to the rot.

Call it quits.

Dax

As requested, a pic of the whole tree. Yes, I probably over-pruned it. If I was keeping it, which is looking doubtful, this would be where the permanent lowest branches would be,

Here's a pic of the root ball of the less vigorous looking Monterrey Oak. I was getting rid of this one regardless as it was planted too close to the house and other Monterrey Oak. I was able to remove it with my bare hands. Is it just me or is this a tangled looking mess?

The previous owner got taken really bad by this place IMO.

Shoot, I'll take a new pic. I guess that last one didn't want to cooperate.

As Dax said, it should not be able to rock back and forth as described.

If it rocks back and forth, I'd bet a million bucks that it will have a rootball that looks as if it were just taken out of its pot last week, complete with circling roots going around...and around...and around...that never really grew much out into the native soil.

I kinda thought that it may have been a large transplant, and that was why the roots didn't dig in and stabilize the tree. The Moss and Lichens (as already mentioned) aren't a bad thing. When bodies of water are around the moss collects on things. Well, I can see that new trees are in order, I would plant lots of them to replace those damaged. And I would plant plenty of replacements, because not all new transplants make it .

the lichens are irrelevant ....

i dont know about your southern mosses ... very spooky and all ... lol ...

dont rule out.. that it came with those.. on the huge transplant... we just dont know ... as such.. i cant use that info in any formulation of cause and effect .. if i needed to go beyond a bad stock purchase ...

ah.. pshaw.. get rid of the lot of them.. and make your own mistakes.. and future problems.. lol ... thats how i learned ... lol

ken

I'll go out a limb and say that you could save it, mainly because it's a live oak and that they can take a lot of root severing. You could sever the roots radiating out like spokes of a wagon wheel. The moss and lichens are normal especially away from the city's and pollution.

So I finally was home during daylight hours to get a pic of the root ball of the Monterrey Oak I took out.

While this tree rocked some, the Live Oak is much worse.