Will lots of moss kill big live oak trees?

[Matty99]

I have purchased 27 acres with some beautiful gigantic live oaks. they are filled with heavy moss. some look a little weak. is it true that this moss could kill them. apparently they have been around for years, i don't know about this situation. is there anything that can be done to rid them of the moss and not damage the trees?


Matty

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

There is debate about weather these aledgidly benign plants such as moss, lichen and such can harm plants. Some observations are that trees with vvery large amounts of them are in decline. Wether theis is because these plants become oportunistig, or just outpace the host is all conjecture.

If it seems to be "choking" out the leaves then it would eb a good idea to have an arborist thin the moss while removing deadwood.

I'll come down and work for ya! I'd love to climb some live oak. You in that area Reed?

 

[Treeman14]

The problem with pruning out moss is that most trees are over-thinned by well-meaning but misguided "arborists". For the convenience of the climber and to make sure the trees look like something was done to them, lots of live branches are often removed along with the moss. The leads to further decline of the tree. A better alternative MAY be spraying with a copper solution to kill the moss. If you decide to have them pruned anyway, be very careful of who you hire. Insist on removal of DEAD wood ONLY and be prepared to pay dearly. Moss removal is very labor intensive, tedious work. To answer your question, NO, moss does not kill trees.

 

[coydog]

I'm almost positive that moss on liveoaks does not hurt trees in fact I believe there is some research out there that spanish moss on liveoaks is actually beneficial, a symbiotic relationship of sorts, although I couldn't back this up with a specific source, it would be well worth looking into. My guess is that the decline you noted is probably due to another factor, if the trees are really in decline at all. Dead wood on oaks is not a symptom of a health problem necessarily. While oaks are very hardy trees they are susceptible to disease and fungi that are possibly spread by careless pruning, especially in warmer climates, so please be careful when consulting an arborist.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Any healthy old tree will have deadwood in it. This is called sheding limbs. A limb may not be producing enough carbohydrates from loss of light and the tree shuts it down or it may be isolated form the roots by other limbs below it.

 

[Matty99]

Thank you for the reply's. some of the tree's in the front of the property are completely and totally dead. it used to be an old grass farm. i suspect from all the rolling the turf with compactors may have compacted the root system to much. they may have even put to much dirt around them from leveling the place. the back part, the trees appear to really be in pretty good shape. the one tree im concerned with is not looking real good. the spanish moss appears to be choking the leaves from growing. the tree is discolored a bit also from the others. the leaves are sparse and few on the bottom of the limbs. the top of the same limbs have pretty good leave grow, however at bit of off color.

Any more thoughts would be appreciated.

Matty

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Yellow leaves with green veins indicate a problem in uptake of certain minerals. Radial trenching and soil amendments could help. then mulch properly.


Some reputable companies in this area still do the batery acid in the soil thing. Drill a hole pour in acid watch it foam and the teree can take up the minerals in the areas that you have modified. I'm not too keen on it. Wear safety gear if you try it.

 

[budroe69moni]

leave the moss alone brother, it's all good.

 

[hollywood]

if moss does not seem to pose too much of a problem for the tree's health would ground ivy growing from the ground up to the trunk and spreading to the limbs present a problem?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Some ivies can out compete a tree, others can become stranglers. We ahve a big problem with wild grape in our area.

Depends on how fast the ivey is and if it is a srtrangling type. have to know the name, since ground ivy here is a member of the mint family.

 

[hollywood]

the ivy to which i am referring is HEDERA helix (english ivy). it is everywhere around these parts, deer even eat it sometimes when food is scarce in the winter. the english ivy seems to be a relatively quick grower, which is why we use alot of it for ground cover on slopes.

should this type of ivy be removed from trees?

 

[treeclimber165]

In my opinion, I think that the live oaks just hang on to their dead limbs longer than most other trees. So an old, mature live oak will have more deadwood in it if it's never been pruned than many other species. I agree with others here that any work done on the trees should specify minimal removal of green limbs. I did a $2000 trim on a single tree a few years ago, spent 2 days climbing with 6 different tie-offs and ended up with only ONE load of moss/ deadwood in a small chip truck (10' bed on the truck).

Many types of vines can not only choke trees, but also grow out the top of the tree and block a lot of sunlight reducing the tree's ability to produce food. Even if you can't pull them out, just cutting them near the ground will help the trees.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

On bur oak I've spent many a time putting in 8-10 manhours in a single tree. Many times tag teaming them "Hey Chad, pass the long pollsaw over here!" (No Tom, not your Chad, Gregs.)

Just from reading about live oak I can imaging they would hold onto wood well. They were prized for the decay resistance, tensil and density. I understand a straight stick can still catch a pretty penney from shipwrights.

I'll climb one yet.

 

[Reed]

Late but made it -

Epiphites - your south Texas Live oak has the ball moss - perhaps, but I doubt it, spanish moss too.

Everyone's correct, it's an "air feeder" and not parasitic to the tree however - large occurrance can host insect vectors of three deadly (for your area) pathogens.

Control is personal opinion, methods I recommend are hand removal, bicarbonate of soda spray (baking soda, 5 lbs per 150 gallons), or Kocide 101 (a copper based fungicide). I personally never recommend the fungicide and soda spray will act like a dissicant, pulling moisture out of the tree and leave a salt crust on the drip zone.

Most of the larger populations will be inthe shade on older dead growth, this makes removal more efficient (cut the dead out). John Paul is aching to climb some live oaks, you could call him - it's peaceful climbing all day pulling moss balls I thihnk he would love to try it.

The coloration of your leaves is seasonal - it's getting ready to shed last year's canopy while the buds swell. Live oaks won't show us any meaningful symptoms of chlorosis except some purple mid-season, which I call a phosphorous deficiency. If the root zone's become compacted as you describe, I suggest Medina Soil Conditioner - $8.00 per gallon, label directions would use 1/16th of that. It's a microbial stimulant, bacterial activity will restore loam again.

All in all, you're in a threatened area experiencing oak wilt mortalities in epidemic scale. If mechanical control is used for moss removal, wounds are a known infection court and many live stems will be opened while controlling the moss. At this time, with wilt being considered, maybe delay any action on the moss for now.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Locally we have ball moss and spanish moss. i believe that the more tropical and moist the region, the more chance there is for moss etc. to get on run away proportions.

They are both supposed to be epiphytes i beleive; especially the ball moss.

But, we have a prof. at local college that disagrees, as well as others. One of the leading reasons for the argument of ball moss being an epiphyte; is that it can be witnessed growing on electric lines. i think it is living off air there and maybe even mildewy growth; and doesn't seem to do well there anyway there. An old mentor once told me that if the ball moss forms a ring or collar around a branch it will take its air and kill it. Never understood that; but have witnessed many dead branches with rings of ball moss around them....................

In the spanish hanging moss; it seems more benign; but can smother from light and air diffrent parts of the plant. It also can harbor lots of insect nasties.

When we try to deal with moss; i picture a Loisiana swamp; and how these mosses seem to like the cool, damp, dark, still air that that image brings; we rarely see the moss on topside. So we try to bulk out some points, and bring moving, dry warmer air and light through to corrupt habitat. In bad situations we reccomend spraying too. But sometimes in tandem with removing branches that are dead; or absolutely completely engulfed, especially seeing as charachteristically they are dying and low, candidates for trimming anyway. This can be done to reduce targets for spraying, open windows to other targets, perhaps removing a favorite hiding place from elements at the same time; also allowing more light etc. to decrease favorable habitat at the same time.

 

[Matty99]

I'm gonna get some pics of these trees and let ya'll hash it out.
Any ya'll want to do some climbing..............take note.
Stay tuned, and i'll post the pics soon.


Matty