Bur oak losing leaves
maden_theshade
16 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (15)
teacup754
16 years ago
jolanaweb
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Bur Oak in hurricane prone areas
Comments (11)Resin, the USDA map shows Bur Oak native all the way down to the Corpus Christi area, whether that's correct or not I don't know ;) Scotjute, I was thinking that same thing about the roots. I've noticed lots of trees growing on heavy clay with a high water table seem to have a pancake type root system. I have really noticed this with Southern Magnolia, in sandy soil the roots go very deep, however in heavy clay they tend to stay at the surface and spread far out. Here is a link that might be useful: USDA map...See Moreshumard oak losing leaves
Comments (5)Hi Greenman, Shumard Red Oak is usually pretty disease-resistant except for one thing, and that one thing is a doozey, so we'll leave it for last. If the appearance of the beetles and the leaf-drop seem related time-wise, i.e., that first you saw the beetles around for a while and then you saw the green leaves dropping, then perhaps there is a link between the two. How small are these beetles? Are they the size of ladybugs, for example, or are they almost as large as Japanese Beetles? Or, maybe they are mid-sized like May beetles/June bugs? The most important thing at this point likely would be to ID the beetles so you could determine if they are the problem. It may not be that the beetles themselves feed on the tree enough to hurt it, but rather that they might vector disesase. To take this discussion in a different direction, do you feel like you kept the tree adequately moist all of last year? Sometimes drought damage in trees is slow to show itself. That's because trees can live off stored energy for about a year, so that even when they are drought stressed, it will seem like they came through the drought and survived it, and then from several months to a year or more later, the tree will go into a decline and die. That's just something to keep in mind, and if you feel like the tree never got desperately dry, you can discard this as a possibility. Now, let's talk about the doozey of a problem I mentioned earlier. Are you familiar with oak wilt disease? I am not sure how widespread it is in Oklahoma, or if it is at all common here, but in Texas, where we lived before moving here, it was then and still remains almost epidemic. Unfortunately, once an oak tree contacts oak wilt, its odds of survival are slim to none. I am not saying that your tree has oak wilt, not at all, but just that it is one of the possibilities you need to be aware of and need to watch for. I'm going to link something below about oak wilt, and it does discuss the role of sap beetles and oak bark beetle that can spread oak wilt. You might want to read that part of the link, and look at the line drawings of the beetles. Then, if it were me, I'd Google to find color photos of those beetles and make sure they are not what you're seeing on the tree. A healthy Shumard Red Oak shouldn't just be dropping green leaves randomly. However, if by chance you've recently had very heavy rainfall and the soil stayed waterlogged for a while, I think the leaf drop could be a reaction to that. I wouldn't get panicky at this point if it were my tree, but I'd be watching carefully. I'd be watching for a discernable pattern of leaf drop--like whether or not all the leaves are falling from one limb or set of limbs or from only one side of the tree, or from all over the tree. Clues like that can be helpful in figuring out why the leaves are dropping. Also, I'm going to assume no one has used a weed-n-feed product on the ground in the drip line of the tree's canopy. Shumard Red Oak is one of my favorite trees and we have several of them in our yard, and more scattered around the property and they usually are very healthy trees, so whatever is going on, as long as it isn't oak wilt, isn't likely to be a life-or-death issue. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Oak WIlt...See MoreWhat is eating my Bur Oak leaves?
Comments (6)I found some light green worms on my new pecan tree. They were tiny and exactly the same color as the leaf. I had to look several times to find them. They had stripped several leaves down to the spine. The nursery said to use BT Worm killer. I've sprayed it on and I think it killed them. I have to get out there again and check....See MoreRed Oak tree losing leaves
Comments (7)The sad thing was that 78" of rain (as I am sure you know) can be just as damaging for garden plants as a year with 18 or 20" of rain. Aside from the garden and farming issues, our county courthouse flooded (and it wasn't the only place that flooded, just the most well-known) on a May 2015 day when we got about 12" of rain in some parts of the county (including our house) and a lot of roads were flooded, washed out, wiped away, etc. I think all of the roads had been repaired and reopened.....and last week's flooding got some of them and now they are washed out, destroyed and closed again, and unlikely to be repaired until after the spring's storm season has passed at the very earlirst. While we think of a rainy season as being a good year, it still can do a lot of damage. Sadly, that was not even the first day my garden has been subjected to 12" in one day, but it was the first time that's happened since April of 2009. It is aggravating to have a river of rainwater running across your property, but no less aggravating than drought or wildfire. Here in Oklahoma, the land of extreme weather (a title Texas could claim as well), we always seem to go from feast to famine to feast in terms of rainfall. Last year's rainfall was epic, and I hope we don't have that sort of year again this year. It is starting to look like April 2016 bears too much of a resemblance to 2015 in that respect. Scale seems prone to move in and attack stressed trees. Being recently transplanted in the last couple of years and then being blasted by too much water could have been the stress that led to scale attacking your trees. If they were my trees, even after I'd eliminated the scale this year, I'd probably spray them with a dormant oil next winter during the dormant season just to prevent any surviving scale from reappearing next spring. It's better to be safe than sorry. I was looking at flood damage along the Red River yesterday, including formerly thriving winter wheat crops buried under silt and floodwaters, and thinking to myself "here we go again". We almost bought land adjacent to the river and talked ourselves out of it, instead buying close to the river but on high enough ground that our house would be very unlikely to flood. Every time the river floods, I am grateful we made that decision. I can handle a flooded garden and yard, but wouldn't be happy to have a flooded house, and even in last year's worst possible case flooding scenario, our house was never at risk of being flooded. Our yard and garden were buried under pond-sized puddles for weeks and weeks at a time though. As plants leaf out (or, more accurately, don't leaf out) this spring, we're learning what did or did not survive the flooding, and I am shocked at how few plants apparently died....See Morehitexplanter
16 years ago
sowngrow (8a)
16 years agoltcollins1949
16 years agomaden_theshade
16 years ago
texanjana
16 years agomandi_s1
16 years agoTim P
4 years ago
wantonamara Z8 CenTex
4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago
roselee z8b S.W. Texas
4 years agoroselee z8b S.W. Texas
4 years agoTim P
4 years agoTim P
4 years ago
Related Stories
EARTH DAYThe Case for Losing the Traditional Lawn
Work less, help the environment and foster connections by just saying no to typical turf
Full Story
KITCHEN DESIGNHow to Lose Some of Your Upper Kitchen Cabinets
Lovely views, display-worthy objects and dramatic backsplashes are just some of the reasons to consider getting out the sledgehammer
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESGreat Design Plant: Cork Oak
Witness an incredible renewable resource being grown while lolling in the abundant shade of this expansive, ever-popular tree
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESCelebrate Eastern Oaks for Wildlife, Longevity and Seasonal Interest
There might not be a more important tree to have in your eastern U.S. landscape — if you can fit one in
Full Story
KITCHEN OF THE WEEKKitchen of the Week: Goodbye, Honey Oak — Hello, Minty Green
After more than 30 years, the Kloesels revamped their space to reflect their rural country town and Victorian-style home
Full Story
FALL GARDENING11 Trees for Brilliant Fall Color
Give your landscape the quintessential look of autumn with the red, orange and yellow leaves of these standouts
Full Story
HOUZZ TOURSMy Houzz: From Destruction to Renewal After Hurricane Katrina
After losing almost everything home related, a couple rebounds with a new, contemporary build on the same site
Full Story
DECORATING GUIDESWhat Goes With Dark Wood Floors?
Avoid a too-heavy look or losing your furniture in a sea of darkness with these ideas for decor pairings
Full Story
INSIDE HOUZZDecorating Trends: A New Houzz Survey Shows What Homeowners Want
Is the TV gaining or losing ground? Are women or men trendier? Find out and learn more about people’s decorating plans right here
Full Story
KITCHEN DESIGNCurrent Events for Traditional Kitchens
Breaking with tradition is a good thing for kitchens stuck in yesteryear. These 10 contemporary updates will help you leave the past behind
Full Story
wantonamara Z8 CenTex