Baby Red Oak Tree - Sick??

[History Bloke]

I live in Central Texas (between Austin and San Antonio) and in December 2012, I put dozens upon dozens of Red Oak acorns in the fridge. By February, I planted about 20 of them in pots and they ALL grew. I gave the rest of the acorns to a local nursery and a few friends. Every acorn of theirs grew too.

December of 2013, I planted one of them in my backyard and when spring hit, it took off! The thing has grown sooo nicely and has looked beautiful. Early on, I noticed some of the leaves looks shiny... almost shellacked. I was told by the people at Lowes that it was either some kind of insect or fungus and to spray it with Neem Oil. I have, and it has looked pretty good. It's already several feet tall. Within the last two weeks it has started to look really bad. I took pictures of it. Can anyone tell me what's wrong with it?

 

[Raintree]

First don't get advice from people at Lowes.
Second, get a soil test done. Leaf scorch most likely due to PH or nutrient deficiency issues.
Are you properly planted at the right depth & are you providing sufficient water?

 

[History Bloke]

I give a good soaking every few days. I make sure the soil doesn't get dried out. I've had leaf scorch before on other trees and it's never looked like this. Notice in the second picture how lush and green the leaves are around the rest of the tree? In fact, those top leaves just showed up about a month ago. It put on another 5-7 inches just from June-Aug. When I planted the tree in the ground, it was less than 12 inches from dirt to top and now the tree stands at 41 inches. It has tripled in size since it bloomed in April. There are places around the main trunk that are green and getting very thick. If it were just dry and hungry, why would it grow so much?

Those black spots appeared in less than a few days. There were spider webs around there too. I can water it *more* if that's really the problem.