Something terrible has happened there horticulturly. You need a couple insured arborists to come over, see if there is ANY reason not to remove them and figure it out how 5 trees have died recently on one property.

This sucks. :(

Supposedly there is a disease going through the oaks in the area... Not sure what it is. There are 2 oaks close to each other that are dead/dying that have seven 2' diameter stumps within a foot of each other. No idea if these sucked up all the nutrients, but wow is this no fun.

Killing my scenery :(

I don't know much about trees... are these in fact Oaks?

It might be Oak wilt, caused by the fungus: Ceratocystis fagacearum

Oak wilt kills them pretty fast.

If it's not that then it could be Oak decline complex, which is slower and gradually kills oaks over a few years or so.

But Oak wilt would be my first guess.

Well, oak wilt is a serious disease of oaks in the red oak group-in some parts of Wisconsin. But that's simply not what's happening here. Oak wilt has nothing to do with trees sloughing off their bark. That is indicative of advanced decline/death and may more likely be ascribed to enironmental conditions. To wit: Has there been construction activity on or near the site in last 5 to 8 years? Is this a "wooded lot"? Has a new drive, sidewalk, foundation repair, patio install, or anything like that occurred recently, as again, in the last 5 to 8 years? Also, to me, the first pic looks like ash, not oak. are you at all certain you actually have oaks here?

Something severely not adding up, and I suspect when we know the history of the site, all will be revealed. Not oak wilt, probably not any infectious pathogenic disease. And certainly, those trees having lost much bark are goners. That's a very advanced stage....of something.

+oM

I really have no idea what kind of trees they are. I thought they were oak, but could definitely be wrong.

The house I bought is 70 years old, hasn't been touched up or fixed up in ages. Nothing new on my site for sure. Most of my area is in the same boat too... with most of them being 30+ years old. This area used to be more of a forest prior to building up the area.

Is it possible that there were too many large oaks in the area and they sucked up too much nutrients? I'll have to get a picture of the area where there used to be 9 trees, seven of which are cut down, but within a 10 foot radius. Each of the cut down ones was very large, probably 1.5'-2' diameter stumps.

No, that doesn't point to anything, in and of itself. Just generally speaking, far more trees are impacted by environmental or site condition factors than by insects/pathogens. And since you're in WI, it must be mentioned that emerald ash borer is very active in many parts of this state. So, to the extent that I'm right that at least one of those pics appears to be that of some kind of ash tree, and to the extent that you ar eindeed in an EAB area, that could account for at least some of the tree decline/mortality.

Tell us this-have you noticed lots of woodpeckers up working in the dead and dying trees? That alone is partially diagnostic for EAB. And I should mention too that, if any of these trees are red oaks, or in the red oak group, and if they have in fact been killed by oak wilt, then yes, some time later, bark could be falling off these now-dead trees. That's a lot of ifs. We just don't have the info we need to get much of anywhere with this.

You mention trees being removed in the area, but what does that point to? Trees are removed every day, and for a host of reasons. Who the heck knows? Not me.

Finally, even thirty years, as long as it may seem to us, is not that long for a stand of trees to still be showing the after-effects of development. Some of the standing dead snags could actually still date back to that initial disturbance. And while you mention curb appeal, keep in mind that even dead trees have very significant value to a wide range of wildlife species, everything from cavity-nesting birds to bees, squirrels, and on and on. Not saying leave a big dead tree overhanging your kids' sandbox mind you, but if you can leave some dead stubs standing, much good can come of it.

+oM

Appreciate the help everyone. I will get a few arborists to come out and let me know what they think.

Picture #1 and #2 definitely looks like Oak bark (in the Red Oak group). It does not look like Ash, Ash bark looks similar to Liriodendron bark.

"Oak wilt has nothing to do with trees sloughing off their bark. "

The bark sloughing off is natural after insects eat wood under the bark of a weak and dying tree over time, that does not rule out wilt that happened a good while back. Oak wilt is spread pretty quick by root grafts, and he said he had lots of them die already and cut down.

It could be something mechanical like heavy equipment on the roots etc., but wilt can't be ruled out.

You need to hire the professional services of an ISA Certified arborist to inspect and evaluate the trees. That's all there is to it.

It's too bad that you didn't know about the trees' problems before you brought the house. You could have put some sort of clause in the purchase contract about tree evaluation.

Click HERE for information about finding an ISA Certified arborist in your area.

In Wisconsin, N. red oak bark is in longitudinal strips, these strips having a depressed center line. That's def. not red oak bark in the first pic. The other two could be. As for a later-stage presentation following oak wilt-this person's chief concern, I accounted for that in precisely the way you, treeguy, just did By saying it could be a very late-stage occurrence. It should be beyond obvious that any dying or dead tree can eventually lose its bark. But that's simply not diagnostic of oak wilt in any particular sense.

+om

Your right it's not Northern Red Oak, I said it was in the Red Oak group in my above post.

An example would be Black Oak (Quercus velutina) which is in the Red Oak group:

Yes, that looks close. OP doesn't know what he's got, yet somehow, the bar is raised much higher for a guy sitting at a desk perhaps 100 miles away. Welcome to the internet!

OP, the salient features of this discussion are that you have some trees in very advanced states of senescence, a fancy word meaning death. Those trees are not at all savable. As to what's happening, better call your County Extension person quick, before Governor Slash And Burn axes those guys. Or at the least, provide some more information, so we can have some hope of getting to the bottom of this thing you report-lots of dead and dying trees in your neighborhood. The internet is a real change in society, but we can't work outright miracles with it.

+oM

Not asking for miracles, simply trying to get feedback on a topic that I know nothing about. I would post a picture of a leaf, but there are none... so all I have is the bark and visual aspect of the tree to go off of. I have a guy coming out today to look at them. Will post back with an update.

The two trees closer to my house are losing bark on some of the limbs, but not on the trunk at all. No leaves on the tree, but I'm guessing bark peeling is not typically a good sign.

Yes, let us know what is said. Please be aware, with the poor economy (especially in the state in which you and I happen to live), there are lots of guys with a chainsaw and a truck who are suddenly tree experts. If you can source some help from an arborist holding ISA certification, that's a good start, although by no means a guarantee of sound advice. But it's automatically better than much of what's out there for "tree guys".

+oM

Okay, so found out they are oaks with the oak wilt disease. Rest of my trees seem healthy at this moment... anything I can do to either prevent or stop the transmission to the healthy trees?

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/treecare/forest_health/oakwilt/whatcanido.html

I dunno. How many other oaks do you have?

For most of us limiting the time you prune your other oaks would be about all we can do. Maybe apply some fungicide...

I think I will have to do the fungicide route. I have about 7 others in my front yard. About 50-75 feet away from the current dead ones.

Man. That is alot of one species. I hastened the removal of some big good looking white ash with the bug approaching. I hate losing trees.

It's largely spread by Oak roots that have connected together over time through natural grafts.

Unless the roots are cut between Oaks that have crossing roots before it spreads too far, there is not much else you can do to prevent spread. Once an oak is infected there is no cure.

Here is more information on it if you have not read about it:

Oak Wilt Link