Red Oak dropping leaves

[BillG49]

I bought my 35 year old home last April, and we have a large Shumard Red Oak in the back yard that is probably about the same age as the house. For the past two weeks the tree has been dropping a large number of green leaves, as well as some brown leaf clusters. There is no evidence of insect damage, and we did not experience the same problem last year.

The tree is in the lower section of the yard, and rain water drains that direction. We have had a normal to wet spring and the yard back seems to stay wet for a long time. I have used a balanced fertilizer on the yard, but have not used any product that includes a weed killer (e.g. Scott's Bonus S).

One problem with the tree that I noticed last year were several girdling roots. I removed the smaller ones, but never got around to removing the largest one - until today. Is it possible that this problem is only due to the girdling roots? I have attached a few pictures.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Bill

 

[tomtrees58]

it mite be to much water do you have clay ect ?? tom trees

 

[BillG49]

Tom,

I thought about that, but the slope/drainage of the yard has not changed for decades, and the tree has been thriving from what I can tell. The timing of the rains this year has allowed me to not run my sprinkler system even once, so all watering has been from rain and runoff from uphill.

That being said, it does stay wet back there, and yes, I do have clay soil - what's commonly referred to around here as "black gumbo".

OK - I just went and checked the NOAA site for precip and found that for Feb-Apr this year we have received 12.2" of rain, vs. 7.1" last year and 8.6" in a normal year, so we are way above normal.

If the problem is that it's just been too wet, this should be self-correcting, yes? (my favorite kind of problem) or do I need to do something?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[treeseer]

Are the green leaves falling from the inside or the outside?

Root pruning probably irrelevant; small compared to trunk. That's the way I would have done it, tho best to wait til fall.

http://www.tcia.org/PDFs/TCI_Mag_July_07.pdf

Shumards are moisture-tolerant but we have had a very wet spring here--how bout you?

 

[BillG49]

treeseer,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, it has been wetter than normal this year (see my post above). I was wondering if I needed to dig around some more looking for girdling roots, but it sounds like you're saying no. And I guess I don't need to remove any more of that particular root?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[BillG49]

Are the green leaves falling from the inside or the outside?

I can't tell that the green leaves are falling from any particular part of the branches. I don't see any bare limbs or branch tips, if that helps.

However, there are lots of cluster of dead leaves on the ends of the branches. See picture below.

Bill

 

[treedoc1]

hows your squirrell population?
They clip ends to build their "nests"

 

[BillG49]

hows your squirrell population?
They clip ends to build their "nests"

We do have squirrels in the neighborhood, but I don't recall ever seeing one in that tree, or in the backyard for that matter.

We do have 2 Shumards and a Texas oak in front and we do have squirrels out there. The oaks in front are not having any leaf drop issues, but wasp galls are plentiful.

Thanks for your reply,
Bill

 

[tomtrees58]

hows your squirrel population?
They clip ends to build their "nests"

are you hungry squirrels:hmm3grin2orange: tom trees

 

[BillG49]

Tom,

OK - I just went and checked the NOAA site for precip and found that for Feb-Apr this year we have received 12.2" of rain, vs. 7.1" last year and 8.6" in a normal year, so we are way above normal.

If the problem is that it's just been too wet, this should be self-correcting, yes? (my favorite kind of problem) or do I need to do something?

Thanks,
Bill

I had a chance this morning to check the actual rainfall records at my house (vs. the airport records quoted above). For the same 3 month period (Feb - Apr) we received 19.1" here at the house - no wonder I didn't need to water!

Since this is more than double the normal rainfall, am I to assume that this is the problem? The yard does drain and it is dry back there now (even though we got another 3" the first two weeks of May) so perhaps my tree is going to be fine? The leaf drop does seem to have slowed.

Thanks for everyone's help.
Bill

 

[BillG49]

OK - one last picture before I stop posting about this "problem". The attached picture shows what has happened over the past 10 days. The top picture was taken on 5/15, the bottom on 5/25.

The dead tips seem to have multiplied, but the green leaves have stopped falling. Only dead leaves falling now, and fewer than before.
Is the tree OK?

Thanks for your replies.
Bill

 

[Lawnmowerboy48]

Oak Wilt possibly?

 

[S Mc]

BILLG49, If you can, get hold of one of the limbs that has the die back and look to see if there is evidence of a long narrow slit (like a crack) in the bark. If so, your problem may be cicada damage from the ovipositing female.
They lay their eggs one year but the damage may not show up until the following spring.

Oak is one of the many trees that they will hit.

Sylvia

 

[ATS/TexasTree]

It's not oak wilt. Symptoms all wrong.

Is there a pool in the yard?

Or perhaps... what is going on in the neighbor's yard? Did they use a weed and feed or some kind of spray?

Turn your irrigation system off if it isn't already - that's a lot of rain so far for the DFW area.

If problems persist, Arborilogical is the best company to call in your area.

 

[BillG49]

It's not oak wilt. Symptoms all wrong.

Is there a pool in the yard?

Or perhaps... what is going on in the neighbor's yard? Did they use a weed and feed or some kind of spray?

Turn your irrigation system off if it isn't already - that's a lot of rain so far for the DFW area.

If problems persist, Arborilogical is the best company to call in your area.

ATS,

We do have a pool, and it had a leak at the main drain when we moved in last year. We fixed in in June, and the pool is no longer losing water except by evaporation. Could last year's leak have caused the problem this spring?

To my knowledge, uphill neighbors have not used any weed killers on their landscape. They have big trees with no indication of damage.

Lawn sprinklers have not been run since last fall.

Kevin Bassett of Arborilogical Services did a survey of our trees last year, but of course the damage wasn't present last year. I emailed him last month with questions about this tree, but I haven't heard back from him yet. I'll try again.

Thanks for you help,
Bill

 

[BillG49]

BILLG49, If you can, get hold of one of the limbs that has the die back and look to see if there is evidence of a long narrow slit (like a crack) in the bark. If so, your problem may be cicada damage from the ovipositing female.
They lay their eggs one year but the damage may not show up until the following spring.

Oak is one of the many trees that they will hit.

Sylvia

Sylvia,

From what I can see, their is no apparent damage on the branches with the dead leaves. The dead leaf clusters are intermingled with seemingly healthy leaf clusters on the same branch. I don't recall a large number of cicadas last year, but maybe I wouldn't have.

If it was caused by cicadas, is there anything I should do at this point?

Thank you for your reply,
Bill

 

[ATS/TexasTree]

Pool leaks and the chemicals used in pools are always hard on trees - especially the burn out products to control algae.

Kevin is exactly the person I had in mind - tell him I said "Hi."