# Water Oak dying?



## Yodapug

I have a Water Oak that is aroung 60ft tall whose leaves have browned all over except for the lowest branch. This browning has happened within the last few months and I am worried that it will not come back in the spring. There are two identical water oaks right next to it. I checked one of the browned branches but the buds were not alive. I am worried since I built a rather large and costly shed right up to it. I wonder if anyone has any thoughts


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## Urban Forester

Did you dig a foundation for the shed? Oaks don't care for root disturbance. Any heavy equipment running over that area? They are also not fans of compacted soil. There are alot of things that could cause decline in an Oak. From what I'm looking at it would appear it is in serious decline... More pictures would help, root flare, main trunk, leaves.


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## PinnaclePete

With out more information, I would say root damage...cut roots during excavation or trenching, soil compaction, grading the area and fine root damage. Do you see any fungal growths at the tree base (ganoderma or inonotus), any smooth grey or black patches (hypoxylon) on trunk or limbs. These plus the this summers heat and drougth (and the last several years in your area) could have caused the "rapid" death. 

More pics and info will help answer your question, but the trees appear dead and should be removed. Have them removed sooner than later, because as time goes on, the tree will decay and make it more hazardous for the tree workers and your shed.


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## Yodapug

Thanks for the replies. I didn't trench or greatly disturb the roots. The shed is on a floating foundation and the fence posts holes close to the tree I dug by hand and did not have to remove much in the way of large roots. The fence has been up for nearly four years and the flooring for the shed almost two years. There has been no digging on my side of the fence and as far as I know my neighbor hasn't either. 
I will check about the patches or fungus tommorrow morning. The trio of water oaks all have big green patches of lichen on them and always have. Barring any trauma to the roots could, drought have caused it? I will try and upload more pics. I just don't get why the lowest branch it still all green with no dead leaves while the rest of the tree with almost no leaf drop turned brown. 
Since the lowest branch is still green could the top possibly resprout in the spring?


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## Yodapug

*more water oak pics*

I have attached some more pics of the tree in question.


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## PinnaclePete

Take a peek over the fence and see if anythings been done on the neighbors, same questions we asked earlier.


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## Yodapug

I did look over the fence and there is nothing on a glance. I called them today and gave them a heads up that it may have to come down and felled in their yard no less, but they haven't responded. I know them well so communication isn't an issue.


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## discounthunter

interesting. i was told by several locals(not experts)that water oaks have a defined life span. 20-50 years. ive had one in my yard (about 18" base) die suddenly,and ive seen several in the woods we hunt die suddeny(which sucks ,they were good acorn trees)any evidence of a lightning strike?


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## treeseer

discounthunter said:


> interesting. i was told by several locals(not experts)that water oaks have a defined life span. 20-50 years.



Definitely not experts--trees do not have definite lifespans.

Green below because root function insufficient. even if you did not cut big roots when building the shed, you changed the site a lot--think about water, for starters. half the water that once fell where your shed is, is now aimed at the trunk. :bang:

lightning is the best thing you can hope for; then insurance would pay for the removals. an arborist on site might give you more help. youi were right to check the buds--as long as they live there is some hope.


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## Yodapug

*after Arborist visit*

I had an arborist come today to eval. the tree and he said that it was ambrosia beetles. A tree gets stressed and then begins to emite ethanol that attracts the beetles. He said since I changed the site so much that it could have stressed the tree. He gave me a ballpark of about $1400 and up to have it removed, cut up and hauled away. No way can I afford that so I asked about taking down myself and he was surprisingly helpfull with info on what he would do.


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## forestryworks

Yodapug said:


> I had an arborist come today to eval. the tree and he said that it was ambrosia beetles. A tree gets stressed and then begins to emite ethanol that attracts the beetles. He said since I changed the site so much that it could have stressed the tree. He gave me a ballpark of about $1400 and up to have it removed, cut up and hauled away. No way can I afford that so I asked about taking down myself and he was surprisingly helpfull with info on what he would do.



Which cost more, the shed or the tree?


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## GLOBOTREE

*Oak is sensitive*

oak i find is a surviving species prone to sress from human activity, very sensitive The tree will generally take 5 years to fully respond to change! sounds like this tree is giving signs to the eye that something is not right, act now and you wont lose it hopefully, make up for 4 years of unwelcome change, compensate or get a wood burning stove and cut er down.


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## Yodapug

The shed cost about 15,000 and 2 yrs of my labor. If push comes to shove the tree goes.


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## TreeTopKid

GLOBOTREE said:


> oak i find is a surviving species prone to sress from human activity, very sensitive The tree will generally take 5 years to fully respond to change! sounds like this tree is giving signs to the eye that something is not right, act now and you wont lose it hopefully, make up for 4 years of unwelcome change, compensate or get a wood burning stove and cut er down.



There are hundreds of examples of Oak, some are more resiliant than others. Water Oak _Querus nigrais very sensitive to any kind of disturbance to the ground surrounding the tree Live Oak Quercus virginiana on the other hand is much more resiliant and can sustain fairly heavy constuction damage before showing symptoms of stress._


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## Marine5068

First off a hello to newbie member that has just joined us here Akon1089.

Nextly about the tree. That's A tough one. Nice looking tree too.
We as humans seem to forget that we are changing the landscape and not always for the benefit of the land(plants and animals), but more for our own benefit.
In this case since the tree was obviously already there, not much to do except see if it survives.
From the photos it does look like it's jambed in there with the fences and the shade from the shed etc. Maybe not enough water was getting to the roots .
The roots could have been protected more from the fence post footings by not going too close to the tree roots with them, but that ship has sailed now so maybe there is some treatment that can be done.
Maybe getting nutrients to the roots or something. I don't know.
Good luck with it though.
~Stan


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## jessytimothy

All big green patches of lichen on them and always have the trio of water oaks. The roots could have been protected. The tree will generally take 5 years to fully respond to change.


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