Dying Oak Tree?
We're in N. Texas and obviously it is starting to get HOT, but I don't think it has been too bad, however, our new Oak tree has been struggling for the last month or so. The leaves have started to brown and fall from the tree. I need a little help confirming what might be stressing the tree and find a solution that I can hopefully implement to get it to turn around the issue. I have included some details about the tree and some photos of the leaves which have fallen in an effort to give as much information as I can. Thanks.
Tree Planted: Dec. 2016 (New Build)
Tree Circumference: 4in
Tree Height: 14 ft
Irrigation Type: Dedicated Bubbler
Irrigation Water Schedule: 2x Daily 10 mins (I have the bubbler throttled down quite a bit). I also have 2 other trees on the same zone which are doing just fine and thriving.
Comments (6)
Seth M
5 years agoThanks for looking at this. Below are some additional photos. My grass is watering 2x /wk.
Picture Facing East looking at West facing part of Tree.
Picture Facing West looking at East facing part of Tree.
Picture Facing North looking at South facing part of Tree
Tree base. I recently cleaned up mulch to get it less compacted.
Base of tree. We got a pretty good rain last night and I ran it after cleaning up the mulch to see how the water sat in the basin of the mulch and if it was running off in any particular direction. I noticed it "drained" towards the irrigation hose. I'm thinking about drilling some holes around the base of the tree with my hand auger to try and give it a little more ability to soak down into root ball.
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Oak trees dying?
Comments (5)Hello and welcome aboard. Sometimes the Gallery section of the tree forum is less traveled so I will hazard my guess until the oak experts come along. I dunno why GW has to divide up the forums soooo much and hide posts. First, I assume Pin Oaks do well in your area. In most of St Louis they do great but there are patches where the soil is too alkaline or something and many there have yellow leaves and some defoliation. I would not want to fight nature for a hundred years like some of them folks are. The tree with the bare leaves in the first picture worries me. Rough winter after transplant stress maybe? My general advice in May is to give it a month to see if the tree rebuds. If not replace in the fall during prime planting season. The last picture to me looks to have a red tinge. Is it that or the small brown spots that have your attention? I don't know what part of the country you are in but we have had an odd week. 30's one night, 90's the next two days. I was amazed I did not see some foliage damage while I was mowing but sometimes it seems to take a few days. How has your weather been? Far as what to do to help them? Probably not much. Every few days stick a finger six inches or so into the soil and check on the moisture level down by the roots then do the right thing. Trees in general like deep watering while shallow rooted lawns like a bit at a time frequently. Good luck....See MorePyramidal Oak Tree sick or dying
Comments (2)Have no idea what is causing your tree to die back, but it and its foliage look like a columnar English oak, Quercus robur 'fastigiata'. Could be way too wet a year last year in very heavy clay, causing root damage? A total guess. hortster...See Moreenormous oak tree - dying - best use of wood??
Comments (13)In my experience, most regular saw mills don't want a residential tree due to hardware since they have large circular saw blades, and damaging a tooth or two is an expensive thing to fix. However, bandsaw mills have much less expensive blades. Often folks with bandsaw mills will be happy to either take the logs or do the sawing at your place and turn them into lumber. DH worked at a regular saw mill in his younger years and now has a portable bandsaw mill. We are both woodturners and he often gets calls from neighbors or other turners about trees that they would like to have sawn into lumber for woodworking of various sorts, including turning blanks. Depending on Don's tree, there may well be some good wood in it so it's probably worth a phone call to see if once the tree has been taken down by someone qualified there will be interest in it as wood. The pin oaks I grew up with started branching above the second story windows, and poor lumber often makes great turning stock, though since it doesn't grow in this area much we haven't ever gotten a pin oak so I don't know for sure how well it turns. Other oaks are fine. Here's a link to an article about woodturners salvaging an old elm on the other side of the state from you: http://www.stltoday.com/news/state-and-regional/missouri/article_b880f39a-4840-5418-9139-4ac39f45929a.html and below is a link to a St. Louis woodturning group. Here is a link that might be useful: woodturners of st louis...See MoreAnyone Noticing lots of dying Oak Trees?
Comments (23)Gang - here is my report from the historic area around Marietta Square. We have scads of dying or dead oaks. I know in my neighbor's yard there are 3 huge ones in various states of impending death. The one in the backyard which has mongo limbs that hang over my kids' play area (yikes!) DOES indeed have the tiny holes and sawdust all over the place. My other neighbor has a humongous oak that seems to be dying from some sort of rot from within. The base of the trunk has such a huge void underneath, a small child could hide in it. When you knock on the trunk, it sounds and feels like styrofoam! There is black gunk leaching out from other spots - the big branches split open to allow very weird white blobs of mushroomy things to burst forth and dangle there. Her other VERY large oak leans right over our house. So far, it is healthy, but I worry that the fungal situation could spread through the roots. By the way - thanks to all who responded to my Sick Tree posting. I think the Slime Flux diagnosis is right on. But the whole thing began with Ambrosia Beetles and was followed by fungus. I'm afraid all the trees in the neighborhood are suffering from the same problems. I also know we had a "tree guy" come out a few years back. He was one of those cool, funny, granola guys who was very relaxed, very "connected" to the trees! (A great character.....) He said some profound thing about the great old neighborhoods with the great old trees -- but just like our elderly people, the trees have a life span and it's not always as long as we expect....See MoreSeth M
5 years agoGreat advice Ken on getting into the dirt rather than just looking at the top level. I wasn't surprised that the soil wasn't dry as I feel like 2x should be enough, but again, I'm guessing and not sure at all. But this is what I found.
I was able to easily dig through the top layer of "fill clay" from the original planting. I then was able to hand dig to the natural soil from the tree, in whatever fashion it was originally planted in
As you can see, that hole was full of water. And I was able to push my arm deeper in the water up to my elbow and it was all very very wet.
I purposely tried to find the edge of the original dug hole and I was able to find it. As you can see, the clay has basically formed a clay pot and is retaining water...possibly too well.
From what I'm seeing here and from digging into this...I might have an overwatering problem because of the lack of drainage which the clay "pot" is causing. A few searches show that overwatering essentially suffocates the tree. So I'm going to turn off my irrigation from the tree and dig another hole tomorrow to see what the moisture level looks like.Any other thoughts?
toronado_3800
5 years ago
Marion_ 6b
5 years ago
toronado_3800