The attached pictures are of one of the numerous oaks at my family cemetery. Our oaks are having a number of problems, hopefully y'all can help me figure out what's going on and what, if anything, can be done.
1. Some of the oaks have been losing major limbs for as long as I can recall. The limbs will just break off, often without provocation from wind or ice. The most recent one was a 22" limb that fell from thirty feet or so, portions of which had a hollow center full of ants and moist, brown, decayed material. The point at which it broke from the tree, however, seemed reasonably solid, with the decay further along at 12"-18" diameter sections.
2. Some of the oaks, as with the pictured one, have been losing bark in vertical strips. The pictured oak started losing the bark about five years ago, and appears to have a crak developing in the center of the de-barked area. I assume that there is internal decay going on here, but there is no visible evidence on the trees afflicted with this bark loss. These trees still seem very vibrant, as shown in the third picture.
I would love to hear that there is some quick, easy, and inexpensive solution to these problems, but I realize that there probably is not. I sit on the board of the non-profit corporation that manages the cemetery and we can hardly afford to have the lawn cut, so expensive treatments are simply not an option.
So, any ideas what is going on with these trees? Are there any things that I should or should not be doing with these trees to preserve them as long as possible?
1. Some of the oaks have been losing major limbs for as long as I can recall. The limbs will just break off, often without provocation from wind or ice. The most recent one was a 22" limb that fell from thirty feet or so, portions of which had a hollow center full of ants and moist, brown, decayed material. The point at which it broke from the tree, however, seemed reasonably solid, with the decay further along at 12"-18" diameter sections.
2. Some of the oaks, as with the pictured one, have been losing bark in vertical strips. The pictured oak started losing the bark about five years ago, and appears to have a crak developing in the center of the de-barked area. I assume that there is internal decay going on here, but there is no visible evidence on the trees afflicted with this bark loss. These trees still seem very vibrant, as shown in the third picture.
I would love to hear that there is some quick, easy, and inexpensive solution to these problems, but I realize that there probably is not. I sit on the board of the non-profit corporation that manages the cemetery and we can hardly afford to have the lawn cut, so expensive treatments are simply not an option.
So, any ideas what is going on with these trees? Are there any things that I should or should not be doing with these trees to preserve them as long as possible?
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