I don't know it it's the Oak Wilt that's hitting them, but all of a sudden they drop their leaves and start dropping limbs rather quickly. I first noticed it about 5 years ago. Doses't seem to be touching the Chestnut Oaks at all. The farm I get most of my Oak from belongs to our Vet. I helped my BIL clear a 30" one off the horse fence back in the spring. It had been dead standing and we were waiting for it to fall, leaning heavy over the fence. Figured we might get lucky and miss the post's and just take out 3 fence boards. That's what happened. When I bucked it up we just rolled the blocks a few feet into the woods, clearing the road. About a month ago we took the splitter up and started to work on the rounds. I quartered a few with the Fiskers so we could lift them on the splitter. When I pulled the quarters apart there were long elastic looking tubs running all through the wood, from the edge to the heart. Looking at them trying to figure out what they were, we saw termites crawling out of the ends. I'd never seen that before. Usually I'd leave a fallen Oak on the ground for a year or two and not worry too much. That woods is so infested with termites that if a dead Oak goes down now, we take the loader and put a couple blocks of wood under it, to keep it off the ground till we can process it. I'll get a pic of the little buggers up later, Joe.
