Scarlet Oak buds / no leaves

[SWS850CSI]

I have a Scarlet Oak that is full of buds but won't leaf out. When I break the buds off, they are green and moist. I've checked the branches to see if they are dead, but they are green and pliable.
All the other trees, including maples and oaks, in my yard have all leafed out. Our winter was pretty severe with a cold snap down into the -20's, but that has happened before. The tree is roughly 8" diameter. The only possibilty I can think of is I put down some Triox last year in the general vicinity, but stayed a good 15' away from the trunk. Any suggestions would be appreciated. It's my favorite tree:

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

We had a customer with an Ash, with the same symtoms.
It turned out that the non-biodegradable nylon mesh burlap was never removed from the ball, at planting time.

The Triox is a good suspect though.

 

[SWS850CSI]

Dan/Mike,

Thanks for the replies... To answer your question, I was trying to sterilize some gravel areas close to the tree to keep the weeds down.

I planted the tree 9 years ago and made sure to remove the burlap so it must be the triox as you both suspect. Here's the question I now hate to ask...

Is there anything I can do? I'm not super tree savy but I do know the tree needs leaves to photosynthesize to survive... Does a year without leaves equal a death sentence? Please advise...

Thank you,

Scott

 

[Ax-man]

What is this Triox ??? I haven't heard of this one, I'm assuming it is a brand name for some kind of herbicide.

The damage is probaly already done . But saturating the site with water, if you don't have a drainage problem, might dilute the chemical enough to where the tree might start to leaf out and hope for the best.

Larry

 

[SWS850CSI]

Larry,

Triox is an Ortho brand of "Total Vegatation Killer"... I basically sterilizes the ground for a few years...

I've murdered my pride and joy

Scott

 

[DadF]

I'm just guessing now but would some activated charcoal help??

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by DadF
I'm just guessing now but would some activated charcoal help??

I used charcoal into the soil on some landmark oaks that idiots had poisoned while killing weeds. We spent a lot of $ and got poor results. If it's this guy's favorite tree tho it may be worth a try.

 

[SWS850CSI]

Thank you for all your replies... Does anyone know if a tree can go a year without leaves and still survive?

 

[DadF]

If the buds are still alive then the tree should still be alive. Generally trees can go without a full leaf out for a year without too much of a set back. I'm worried that the Triox will still be active or the soil too sterile yet next year however. That stuff generally stays around for awhile.

 

[SWS850CSI]

As long as there is a shred of hope, I'll hang on to that. I have been saturating the area with water to try to dilute what's left in the meantime. Funny how the very weeds I put the Triox down for are back. I think weeds and cockroaches must be related! Thanks again...