Thank you everyone for your thoughts! Dan: What is a flicker? And can I take it that you meant I should cut the lower branch off, which is the most damaged? If it is a pathogen of some sort, is there anything you think I could do to help the tree? Make sure it has a fighting chance. We usually spread compost on our yard spring and fall. My neighbor has a red oak 10' on the other side of the fence, and his tree never greens up each summer; the leaves stay the light spring green color. I always thought our spreading compost helped our trees to be strong, with strong, dark green leaves. But maybe this was not a good idea? If I introduced a pathogen this way? JQPublic, here are requested photos: Here is the tree in its entirety. As you can see, from the left we have an arbor vitex (chaste tree/Texas Lavender), small red oak, and then the tallest tree, with the airplane path touching it on the left, is the Red Oak with the bark loss. In front is a Texas Red bud. I realize my earlier pictures had some spent vitex blooms in the pic. We have several trees in there together, and its hard to get a clean pic. Here is the tree down to the bole, from the same direction, looking toward the house. I don't know how to draw a circle on a picture, so let me say that in this pic, you can see the worst damage, on the first branch from the ground, on the right. That is the branch almost completely girdled. This branch is about 15' feet from the ground. Because we have a sloped yard, here is pic of the tree down to the bole, from the house, looking toward the green belt we back up to. Kids are messy, so please excuse me that I didn't pick up before taking pic. I was trying to hurry during nap time. As I mentioned, I don't know how to draw a circle on a pic, and couldn't figure it out just now, so here is a pic that shows both places of damage so you can get an idea of how far apart they are, and how the main trunk is reacting. The second place of damage is much smaller and way higher than the first. Again this picture is looking from the house, toward the green belt. The lowest/first set of branches off the main trunk has the worst damage, and the third set of branches up the trunk is the second lesser damaged area. This second damaged area seems to be healing well, but I would like to know what caused the problem, so we can stop it. In full disclosure I'll mention that we noticed the initial problem on the lowest branches summer 2008. Summer 2009 we noticed the problem higher up on the third set of branches. We probably DO need to call out an arborist, but are being cheap and hoping it would be an easily diagnosed problem by the GW experts! Thank you everyone for your help and advice! I really appreciate it. Heather

SOD probably would not be an issue because I will avoid the secondary host plants (did a bit of research). SOD seems to prefer a cooler moister climate than mine. Summers here are hot and dry. Buut, Oak Root Fungus probably is an issue. I have a peach tree that has looked sickly for years. I think it survives because I forget to water it in the summer. I really need to remove it. Cost has been a barrier. Q Lobata is the only Oak listed as being resistant. It seems likely that I might end up with a huge monster on my hands if I plant one. P'raps I need to consider another kind of tree altogether. Chilopsis or Western Redbud would not get too big. As to prickly barrier plants: Rosa Californica is super easy to grow. I call it the Rose from Hell. It sends up super spiny canes and spreads like crazy. I planted it in the hedge on the north side of my back yard which is right next to the road. I have trouble with what ever I plant out there getting trampled -except the rose. People stay away from it for some reason. :D

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.

'I'd not plant on top of gas lines myself either if I could help it.' Oh, I was going to mention, your LP line, from the tank, won't be marked by the utility companies. That's considered a private utility. If you check with who installed the tank they might be able to help you. With gas, you're talking about heavy, flexible copper that comes from an LP tank or the main supply(It's that way with with my LP and city gas). But anything is possible and I'm sure someone that works for the gas company could chime in here about things that have happened. Again, your utilities may have guidelines. I do think that 10 foot rule is good for anything that's stationary, telephone junction box, transformers, gas meters, water hydrants, well heads, because as roots/trunks grow in diameter they need some dirt to press into or they can upset stationary objects. Even with distance, I've seen "tilted" phone junctions. When it comes to water supply lines for hydrants, they are installed below the frost line so anywhere from 6' to 8' below the ground depending on geographic location. These are also considered "private utils" so it's your baby to locate. 'You don' want to be the guy that cuts through a million-dollar fiber-optic.' Yikes! And it would be on your tab if you don't call. Here in MN, they must come and mark within 48hrs of the ticket call. So it doesn't take long too get done. And it's FREE.