Live Oaks don't turn brown, ever. The leaves, when they do fall in the spring, remain green. Brown leaves mean that those portions are probably dead. What's your general location? What happened that caused the damage to this tree last fall? And what might be contributing to the problems with the other trees. Severe drought, construction activities, change of grade, etc. are examples of the kind of history we'd be interested in. Also, pictures help. Let us at least make sure of the identity.

We took down a huge red oak last year, both my wife I cried the day they came with the chainsaws. The tree had a fungal infection, which was confirmed by sending the fruiting bodies, those "mushrooms" that were growing around the base of the tree, to a lab for analysis. Usually, a fungal attack kills a tree from the inside out and can take years and years to occur. What you have to remember is that trees distribute water and food through their outermost layers of trunk, the phloem and xylum. What that means is that a tree can look perfectly fine on the outside, while the inside is all but gone. And this makes for a dangerous situation. It's what arborists call a "hazard tree." A word of caution - be careful about whatever "tree man" you use. Some are very knowledgable, while others are just guys with a chainsaw and a truck. We had several certified arborists examine our tree, and what we found was that fixing it was very expensive, and came with no guarantee. We were told that if this tree fell on our house, it would destroy the attic and pretty much all of the second floor. Not a very comforting thought. They all seemed to favor taking it down to be 100% safe, and so we did. Sorry to lay out what might be too much info here, but we went through the process over the last couple years, this was after what was deemed a healthy white ash blew down in a thunderstorm and destroyed a brand new vehicle. Please understand that we are big tree lovers. However, we have also come to realize that some trees, meaning big trees with problems, are very, very dangerous. The link attached might be of help. One final thought. It's often said that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and I've come to believe that. I took an arborculture course a few years ago, and that's when I started looking at trees, all trees, with an element of respect and fear. Good luck, please let us hear what happens. Here is a link that might be useful: Hazard Trees

I just thought that I would let you all know that I appreciate all of your replies to my thread & also that it just must have been a winter thing for the palms because they are all looking great now. I've only been here for 14 months and never noticed them doing this before. Thank you again. You all are really nice folks. Take care & I hope all your palm trees get better real soon. GerryLee

Emma Yang, I can't help you, but, where are you? And are you sure it's an oak? Of so what kind? I can try to move this question to the top of the heap, hopefully someone can help you. I am guessing you are on the west coast? I am likely wrong. I hope someone can help you Emma.