Will my oak trees live?

[bboyett]

I have several old oak trees around my home which seem to be dying. Several of the branches are already dead. A friend told me that they are dying of old age. Can anything be done to slow this process or how fast can I expect them to go.

 

[Jay Banks]

Not knowing where you live. I can only suggest you locate a consulting arborist in your area to have your trees evaluated.

Start here:
http://www.asca-consultants.org/

 

[underwor]

How long ago was the house built? If it was within the last 5 years, it is probably contruction damage that is causing the problem. If just a few branches are dying, this may be normal. Like any good business, a tree lays off that part of the work force which is inefficient. If the tree is truly dying, it will probably have a lot of little suckers growing off the main limbs and trunks and very few leaves at the ends of branches. Old age for an oak will be 3-500 years old. I don't know what part of the country you are writing from, but I feel that these generalizations will hold true most anywhere.

Bob Underwood, MSU-Bottineau, ND

 

[treeclimber165]

Bob,
What you stated about life expectancy for oaks is true for live oaks and probably a few other types, but around here laurel oaks, water oaks and a few others only live 60-80 years. Again, we cannot tell because we have no idea where this is and no idea what type of oak.

 

[bboyett]

Jay,
I live in north Alabama. I don't know of any arborist in this area. I
really want to save my trees and I wondered if trimming the dead limbs would
help and if there was any nutrients that I could give them.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Click on the link go to the find a consulting arborist page and search for Alabama.

There were nine hits for this search I just made. One of those members listed is an RCA.

 

[oakdancer]

Hi Bboyett, never been to alabama tell you what, send a couple of airline tickets and we will come over for a couple of weeks and give you a diagnostic report do some sight seeing drink some american beer, deadwood your trees, inject them, hug them and leave, and hey presto they'll be ok