You should have seen one of mine, I have 3 from the same source. The 2 uphill looked okay, but my downslope one looked worse than yours, it had brown edges and a bagworm infection. I need to use BT next season. I just let them defoliate it, as it was the end of the growing season by then anyway. Is your area humid enough for the mold? My soil is mostly neutral so I can't help much with the PH thing, but, I have a book that mentions England as being calcerous in many areas and it is of course the "English oak". I am basically repeating what hairmetal said about PH.

This is definitetly not the normal retaining of it's leaves. It is the same thing (whatever it was) that happened to another one of our pin oaks last year (we have about 10 in our own yard, and they fill the woods that surround us). I am so unfamiliar with calling the local "extension office". Is it in the phone book as "[Name of County] Extension Office". And then you call that number and ask for their "tree expert"? Why does/would the county have a tree expert anyway?? (To take care of the trees in the natural woods of the county??) I wouldn't have thought to do it on my own, but I will try it out. The other two items mentioned here don't seem to match the look or symptoms of what we're seeing. Thanks, though; we're looking for all suggestions. Miss Mary

Msmity If it was planted by the Forestry Dept, surely they are the ones who should be consulted with. You nay not get an instant response-I'm sure there are stacks of calls-but Chicago is known for doing a good job with their urban forestry program, and it seems you should eventually hear from them. BTW, those who lambast municipal forestry depts. for not coming and watering the trees in front of their house need to get real. You clearly have absolutely no conception of what it would take to go around to all the trees that need water. The dept. I work for installs the trees correctly, provides a really nice big mulch ring, and leaves a door hanger with instructions for the homeowner. When the tree needs pruning, we're there to do that, and will take the thing down when that becomes necessary. Truly a cradle-to-grave service. Is it too much to ask that the person that already lives there water it? And I'm 99% sure that some of you complainers are also the ones b*tching the loudest about your property taxes. For the record, we DO water the newest street plantings when it becomes necessary. But it is NOT cheap, easy, or practical to go beyond this. Just in my ornamental plantings alone, we might truck 6000 gallons of water on a hot, dry day. That's hustling and doing everything possible to maximize efficiency. To think we could water all the street trees is beyond ridiculous. +oM

in suburbia.. i would have paid for stump removal ... just due to lack of space ... on 5 acres now.. a rotting stump is one more attraction in the garden... so.. how much property do you have.. and do you need the space???? only you can answer this ... for wood to rot .. it needs water .. and nitrogen ... to speed rotting.. drill holes into the stump ... and insert 49-0-0 .. or any extra fert with high nitro ... and put a sprinkler on it.. and keep it dampish ... or.. ignore it.. since you dont need the space ... if cut flat enough.. you can cover it with pots.. and grow things in the pots.. and the run off from the pots will aid in rotting... with my kids.. little dirt monkeys.. i do not bother adding the fert ... no need for them to play in those caustic white lumps of fertilizer ... cheap tree cutters are not necessarily the best... make sure whoever you hire.. has full insurance for you and himself... like work comp .... WHATEVER you do ... depending on whether the disease can spread.. consider retaining the wood chips and the firewood.. unless some tree expert tells you this could threaten your other trees .... though some will tell you that the other trees are threatened by the disease ... honest tree peeps should also say that otherwise healthy trees should not necessarily be prone to the disease ... so whether you keep the wood chips is a hard decision .... i am no disease expert ... and will defer entirely .... in other words... the disease may not have killed the tree ... the disease may have come along to 'finish off' and otherwise dying tree .... good luck ken