# oak smooth patch disease?



## Buck it up (Feb 14, 2015)

I can only assume this is smooth patch disease occuring from my research. The crown is healthy, it's shedding some lower limbs that haven't fallen off yet. There are these light brown patches, throughout the barkless area. But the bark is very thin, all around the base of the tree, from 16 inches off the ground to approximately 6 feet high, then returns to it's healthy bark state. I took these pictures on the south side of the tree. This tree is located on a mound system, in the middle of a swampy area, that mound has been there for 10 years so I can't imagine thatd be a potential cause.


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## Buck it up (Feb 14, 2015)

Here is a picture of the oak, quite certain it's a white oak.


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## ATH (Feb 14, 2015)

Buck it up said:


> Here is a picture of the oak, quite certain it's a white oak.


That picture looks like smooth patch to me. Does not hurt the tree. I may indicate the tree is growing a little slow...but that is not surprising for a large white oak.

One point of clarity: the tree is "ON" a mound that has only been there for 10 years??? (or, are you saying the mound was built up over the base of the tree???...that will damage the tree, and it is not abnormal for it to take 10 years for that to start to show up...)


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## Buck it up (Feb 14, 2015)

Thank you for confirming that my white oak isn't in jeopardy ATH, and cofirming that this is smooth patch disease. Also for the speedy reply. I anticipate on taking some pictures of the crown and of the mound system tomorrow if we don't get extreme winds and 3"s of snow. Ive confirmed that the septic mound sytem was built in 1997 actually, that'd be 18 years ago. The roots are not exposed, maybe they were buried as you suggested. Not sure how big this oak would have been that long ago. I'm asking for an opinion, not making a statement about the tree's health as I am only semi informed of the Arbor culture. I have another oak I'd like an opinion on as well, this ones a red oak.


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## Buck it up (Feb 14, 2015)

Here's a picture of the base of the red oak which is on the side of the mound system. There's definately either ants or termites in this tree, with exposed roots. You can see right through the base of the tree but overall the tree seems healthy. It's leaning towards a busy road, that parallels the house, which concerns me. Do you think I should remove this tree?


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## Buck it up (Feb 14, 2015)

Here


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## arboristCT (Feb 17, 2015)

personally, I've never herd of oak smooth patch disease, but I have seen many white oaks with that smooth bark on the bottom. I thought that was normal on an oak because I never saw any decline. I'll have to make a little research on this disease.

as for the other tree you are talking about with the cavity on the base, well do you have a picture of entire tree to see how much of a lean it has? I wouldn't recommend taking it down if something alse could be done such as heavy prunning to reduce weight, and or cabling back to another tree.


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## ATH (Feb 17, 2015)

It is fairly "normal" on white oak and on ash. _Aleurodiscus oaksii._ It does not cause decline. It is not associated with decline. It simply decays the outer bark. It might not appropriate to call it a "disease" since it doesn't inhibit function. Maybe you could argue that the thinner bark is less insulation in a fire and that is, therefore reduced function of the bark???

As I mentioned above smooth patch may indicate that the tree is slower growing. If it were growing fast, it would, theoretically, replace the bark more quickly than smooth patch decays it...but by no means does it paint a whole picture - just one more thing to consider.


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## arboristCT (Feb 17, 2015)

ATH said:


> It is fairly "normal" on white oak and on ash. _Aleurodiscus oaksii._ It does not cause decline. It is not associated with decline. It simply decays the outer bark. It might not appropriate to call it a "disease" since it doesn't inhibit function. Maybe you could argue that the thinner bark is less insulation in a fire and that is, therefore reduced function of the bark???
> 
> As I mentioned above smooth patch may indicate that the tree is slower growing. If it were growing fast, it would, theoretically, replace the bark more quickly than smooth patch decays it...but by no means does it paint a whole picture - just one more thing to consider.


Thank you for the explanation, I've always noticed this pattern on some white oaks and ashes and had no idea what it was. thanks again.


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