i have a red oak in my yard. actually i believe i have 3 of them. the largest one grew yellowish leaves this year, while the others are dark green. some of the yellow leaves look like they were burned on the edges (black). there are some leaves that are yellow-green, but no dark green leaves. a few days ago, i sprayed some iron treatment on the leaves & sprinkled iron enrichment on the ground - at the suggestion of a gardner. will this work? is it something else? a parasite? any other suggestions?
red oak dying?
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John Paul McMillin
ArboristSite Operative
Send a soil sample to the local university to find out any nutrient deficencies in the soil and also send a twig and leave sample to find out what is causing this. Most scorching whether it be bacterial or not usually shows up late in the season not when they first leaf out so i would think it wasnt that. Have you used any herbicides near this tree? How does the trunk look on this tree ? Are there any dark spots like oozing cankars? Has any soil been piled up around the trunk. Send a picture if you can . Hope we can help. If the tree is not getting the Iron it needs it could be a pH problem that needs to be corrected before any available Iron will be able to be used. If your pH is too high you will need to add sulphur to lower it. When you send in your soil sample make sure you tell them you are testing for a Red Oak. JPM
Zapped,
keep an eye on the leaves - your iron treatment won't yield any results for a few weeks, but I wanted you to let us know if die-back continues.
I don't know where in Texas you are but your red (quercus texana) is a sensitive host for wilt in addition to a very weak oak for Texas (rare to exceed 25-30 year life span). If the "triplicate" stems are close together it's most likely a single tree with a VERY shallow root system. In this area we generally suggest to remove declining reds as they vector disease further on, whether it be a fungal parasite or viral problem.
If the chelated iron doesn't trigger a response within a month I highly recommend you remove the tree and save some treatment monies and give the other trees a better chance to survive.
Reed
keep an eye on the leaves - your iron treatment won't yield any results for a few weeks, but I wanted you to let us know if die-back continues.
I don't know where in Texas you are but your red (quercus texana) is a sensitive host for wilt in addition to a very weak oak for Texas (rare to exceed 25-30 year life span). If the "triplicate" stems are close together it's most likely a single tree with a VERY shallow root system. In this area we generally suggest to remove declining reds as they vector disease further on, whether it be a fungal parasite or viral problem.
If the chelated iron doesn't trigger a response within a month I highly recommend you remove the tree and save some treatment monies and give the other trees a better chance to survive.
Reed
to JPM:
there is another red oak about 20 feet away that had a huge chunk of bark ripped off of it before i moved into this house 3 years ago. each summer i have had to remove some barnacle type parasites from the bottom of the trunk of that tree & i cover up the open wound with some blank foamy herbicide pruning sealer. that tree is now thriving (although i think some ants had recently taken up residence in the tree). but the bigger red oak has been yellow this year. the trunk of the yellowing tree looks healthy to me; there are no signs of parasites or insects. the top of the tree, about 20 feet up is where most of the new growth is, and it looks the most unhealthy, besides some of the burned looking leaves around the drip line. there are no visible oozes, and no dirt has been piled up. i would think that a pH problem would also affect the other trees since they are in close proximity. there is a thick evergreen tree (don't know what kind; not pine) within 20 feet also. it looks healthy. i thought pH mostly affected pines in this area.
to oakwilt:
i live in the dallas area. the tree is about 13 years old, max. i will give it a month. should i put more iron out there periodically? or was the box i put out there enough?
there is another red oak about 20 feet away that had a huge chunk of bark ripped off of it before i moved into this house 3 years ago. each summer i have had to remove some barnacle type parasites from the bottom of the trunk of that tree & i cover up the open wound with some blank foamy herbicide pruning sealer. that tree is now thriving (although i think some ants had recently taken up residence in the tree). but the bigger red oak has been yellow this year. the trunk of the yellowing tree looks healthy to me; there are no signs of parasites or insects. the top of the tree, about 20 feet up is where most of the new growth is, and it looks the most unhealthy, besides some of the burned looking leaves around the drip line. there are no visible oozes, and no dirt has been piled up. i would think that a pH problem would also affect the other trees since they are in close proximity. there is a thick evergreen tree (don't know what kind; not pine) within 20 feet also. it looks healthy. i thought pH mostly affected pines in this area.
to oakwilt:
i live in the dallas area. the tree is about 13 years old, max. i will give it a month. should i put more iron out there periodically? or was the box i put out there enough?
John Paul Sanborn
Above average climber
Let me expand on JPM's question about the base of the tree.
Does it look like a poat in th ground, or is there a natural flair visible where the trunk transisions into root?
If the flair is present, is it symetrical on all sides of the tree, or does one side look like a post where the others flair out?
Does it look like a poat in th ground, or is there a natural flair visible where the trunk transisions into root?
If the flair is present, is it symetrical on all sides of the tree, or does one side look like a post where the others flair out?
iron deficiency will display as chlorosis, a yellowing of the leaves and veins. There won't be scortched margins, that brings it into a whole new light.
Diagnostics are difficult over the web but considering your location, symptoms, other proximity hosts and our current epidemic here.....I'd chance to suspect a more serious problem.
Today is Wednesday, by Saturday you most likely will notice the entire canopy in decline - no amount of supplements (to correct deficiencies) will have a chance to metabolise, the system's not working adaquately to process a rescue attempt. I'm sorry but if the above comes true (Saturday's death display) you'll will benefit from removal.
I've often termed the red oak (spanish or texana) the canary in the coal mine in relation to oak wilt - they NEVER recover like 30% of the live oak hosts to wilt. It's a terminal infection bar none. The vascular structures of reds are a thin distinct layer under the bark, not dispersed xylem cells which can make vascular plugging a longer process. They also vector the disease by allowing (due to this shallow cambium layer) the disease to form a fungal matt, the pressure pad the explodes the bark to allow sexual spores of the disease to mobilize onward.
Early recommendations for oak wilt management here on the Plateau were to eliminate all red oak hosts. Drastic measures I know but they constitute a relatively small number of oaks in our savanna and it's known they are weak trees on our shallow soils with short life expectancies, highly susceptable to five major virulent diseases, and structurally unfit for our rocky hillsides or even landscaped maintained yards.
Knowing the reported disease centers in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, I would hazard a certain evaluation that you have been victimzed by wilt. The symptoms as you describe indicate a failure of the tree. No amount of foliar, injection, or ground treatment can deliver a therapeutic treatment no matter the deficiency, the leaves are disfunctional at this point, based on your descriptions of margin scortching. If wilt may not be the causitive pathogen, bacterial scortch is the only other diagnosis I could reasonably assume, if so, you'll again need to sacrifice the tree in hopes of helping the others live.
Diagnostics are difficult over the web but considering your location, symptoms, other proximity hosts and our current epidemic here.....I'd chance to suspect a more serious problem.
Today is Wednesday, by Saturday you most likely will notice the entire canopy in decline - no amount of supplements (to correct deficiencies) will have a chance to metabolise, the system's not working adaquately to process a rescue attempt. I'm sorry but if the above comes true (Saturday's death display) you'll will benefit from removal.
I've often termed the red oak (spanish or texana) the canary in the coal mine in relation to oak wilt - they NEVER recover like 30% of the live oak hosts to wilt. It's a terminal infection bar none. The vascular structures of reds are a thin distinct layer under the bark, not dispersed xylem cells which can make vascular plugging a longer process. They also vector the disease by allowing (due to this shallow cambium layer) the disease to form a fungal matt, the pressure pad the explodes the bark to allow sexual spores of the disease to mobilize onward.
Early recommendations for oak wilt management here on the Plateau were to eliminate all red oak hosts. Drastic measures I know but they constitute a relatively small number of oaks in our savanna and it's known they are weak trees on our shallow soils with short life expectancies, highly susceptable to five major virulent diseases, and structurally unfit for our rocky hillsides or even landscaped maintained yards.
Knowing the reported disease centers in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, I would hazard a certain evaluation that you have been victimzed by wilt. The symptoms as you describe indicate a failure of the tree. No amount of foliar, injection, or ground treatment can deliver a therapeutic treatment no matter the deficiency, the leaves are disfunctional at this point, based on your descriptions of margin scortching. If wilt may not be the causitive pathogen, bacterial scortch is the only other diagnosis I could reasonably assume, if so, you'll again need to sacrifice the tree in hopes of helping the others live.
i'll wait until it dies before i remove it. not all the leaves have the burned edges. i have seen the other red oak near it recover from a huge chunk of trunk slashed off & parasites (barnacle type) eating on it. that tree is strong & vigorous now. our soil is not as shallow as you describe. i guess the thing that disturbs me the most is that the top of the tree, about 20 feet up, where the new growth occurs, looks very yellow. i always heard you could kill a tree by cutting that off. so if it is sick, it seems serious. then again, i have seen willow tree stumps grow back into new trees. i guess some trees just won't die until they are ready!
