My first thought is actually nitrogen deficiency just as a reminder once again: providing nitrogen after August 1st can result in the death of a tree next year because the wood could go into winter without having "hardened off" is the term used and thus the wood/bark and buds for leaf growth as well as branch growth) would be affected. Think of Nitrogen this way: Heavy amounts will certainly green up your tree (this is what lawn company's do to make a lot of money - they fertilize as often as up to every two weeks with a lot of "liquid applications") but, in order to keep the leaves green, they are as the first responder notes, using too much nitrogen while the probelm most-likely is occuring in that the uptake of other "trace minerals" isn't quite happening. Chlorosis can be ruled out immediately upon examination of your photos. Lou is 100% right that you have the wrong tree. The correction of soil alkalinity (nitrogen boosts as to temporarily-only correct the problem (nitrogen is a significant by-product of pelletized Sulphur ("pelletized" is the old farm word I know) and of course Sulphur helps to aid in the recovery of chlorosis/chloratic symptoms but once again, you're dealing with "minerals and in all forms really as these are the building blocks for all living things." Minerals of course are also found in water... There's a lot to break down in this type of question to come to a logical answer, but still one that's a guess at best. The "Green Light" products offered are 'organic' however Sulphur while it seems and I did'nt know this as actually "inorganic" - yet the Department of Agriculture deems it as "organic" , or at least that's how I'm interpreting Lou's words currently along with a lot of other erroneous information I've either learned reading or from previous bosses, etc-. I used to spray mainly fruit trees with an organic firm and we used "liquid copper" as well as "Liquid Sulphur." And I recall my boss mentioning that the USDA has deemed these to be, "organic." Those words always stuck in my mind even though I was getting this "organic" crap all over my body, in my skin, and in my lungs. Not pretty folks. I'll let Lou sort this one out for me as I now don't understand precisely his comment. I do believe that he is trying to make a distinction among Sulphur in bottle or hard form, versus "natural formation of Sulphur" derived from decayed mulch. Is this right Lou? Overwatering can also be ruled out in my opinion because this produces the outside of a leaf to brown-up. In this person's case, large patches are observed. I still stick to my guns and say that the splotchy-burning is a reult of drought and that your tree is suffering from a lack of trace minerals which could include nitrogen. Do keep it watered once a week for a good while and if you have time, let it almost dry between waterings. Continue this schedule until this time next year at a minimum if you're going to be stubborn by keeping this tree. It's not a hopeless case, but it is something you'll need to continue addressing. Regards, Dax

My husband and I have been living your problem for the last couple weeks. We did a kitchen reno and had to replace a fairly large section of flooring in the area between the kitchen and living room. Our entire place is hardwood (probably original to the house- 1925) so we didn't want to refinish the whole floor. First attempt- applied only a few coats of oil based poly to bare, sanded wood. Floors appeared way too pink/rosy and light, not dark enough and didn't have the yellowish tint that the existing floors had. Next we resanded and experimented with a bunch of different colors of stain. We ended up using a couple different colors- one darker and one lighter. We left one of the coats on for way too long and it took forever to dry. Still wasn't the right color so we were concerned, but once it dried (several days later), we were able to apply more stain to segments of the floor that were still too pink or where we needed variation in color to match the existing floor. The color is looking pretty good- it's not perfect but is not too noticable. After the stain dries, we'll add some coats of oil based poly, which will hopefully darken it a little more and eventually give it that yellowish tint that comes with age. If your floors aren't fixed yet, I can give you the name of the stain colors we used- we tried so many I can't remember which ones we ended up using right now!

Like jfcwood states - the FINAL colour is the true test as to whether the experiment "worked". The other problem contractors have would be the use of oil based or oil modified finishes. It is impossible to get a white floor when the top coats turn ORANGE! I once had a "professional" (15 years in the refinishing business) tell me he worked with "water based" finishes all the time. He then named every SINGLE oil based product on his shelf. It turns out he thought that anything that was liquid - like water - was water based. He couldn't name a water based finish if it jumped up and slapped him with a lawsuit! The "old guard" are having a hard time adjusting to the "new" thinking. The Low VOC stuff, the 'non ambering' stuff, the low-odour products are relatively new (to North America...they are de rigueur in Europe) and are different to use. They require training. Training is no big deal in Europe. You have to do it to keep your license. North America is still the wild-wild west. If you have a sanding machine, you can call yourself a floor refinisher (sad...but true). Add that to the fact that red oak is cheaper than white oak and the trend is white flooring, you get a powerful mixture of fashion together with lack of knowledge and a healthy dose of "cheaper is better". A whole bunch of hearts have and will continue to be broken - on both sides of the professional-client fence. My advice: If you want the look of European Oak, then you should start with European Oak. If you are lucky enough to like the reddish tones of Red Oak, then go ahead and work with Red Oak; count your blessings and the money left in your bank account.

Red aok (red being the operative word) plus 'white' in the Nordic seal = PINK. I know. playing with finger paints is a long time ago for many of us...but the basics are still in play. Red oak turns everything a bit pinkish. If you are doing this on your own, you will need to work bona products. They are NOTORIOUSLY difficult to work. Bona Traffic HD has a working wet edge of 2 minutes. Compare that to the 45 minute wet edge of an oil based poly. Zoinks! Now image having to learn what 2 minute wet edge means with one of the most expensive products on the market. Ouch. Personally I think you need to get the humidity under control. I can see 'crowning' of the wood planks in some of your photos. Crowning is when the centre of the plank sits HIGHER than the edges. That means the moisture in the AIR is higher than the moisture underneath the wood. You need to fire up the A/C or a dehumidifier (whole home is best) for a few weeks before you tackle this. If you sand/refinish the floor while they are crowning you will take down TOO MUCH wood from the centre of the plank leaving the plank 'too thin'. Once you have that under control I would personally use Loba WS EasyPrime and then Refinish with 2-3 coats of Loba 2K Supra AT. The Loba products are MUCH EASIER to work than Bona. They have a wet working edge of 10 minutes. That's 5 TIMES longer than Bona Traffic HD. For a newbie that is the difference between success and failure. Red oak flooring in a natural/clear coat finish = very pretty. It is a pale wheat coloured wood. It is VERY fashionable right now. The good news is NO STAIN needed. Just sand and add new coating.