100 yr + Old Oak

[peace2008]

This is a giant and old oak tree. There are dead leaves all over it. Is it dying?

 

[Mad Professor]

Where are you located and what has the weather been like this year?

 

[peace2008]

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. The weather has been pretty normal. There was a couple of weeks when it didn’t rain in July. It has t been too hot. There’s a second oak tree about the same age and it only has a few of the dead leaves, unlike this one with tons on them. I guess it could be lack of enough water but I thought someone might know something from the picture.

 

[Del_]

Your oak has some type of twig girdling insect damage or possible some type of canker.

I don't think that it is a serious problem but you may want to look into chemical control.

https://www.pennlive.com/gardening/2014/12/lots_of_fallen_twigs_blame_the.html
https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g7276
https://acreagenebraska.org/2019/09/09/insect-causes-dead-twigs-in-oaks/

 

[501Maico]

It looks like cicada damage.

 

[Jed1124]

A close up of the stems close to the dead leaves would be helpful.
Del’s suggestions are a possibility as well as the previous suggestion of Cicada damage.
Neither are generally fatal but aesthetic.

 

[Oletrapper]

I have to go with Del and the girdler. I believe cicada damage would be much more severe. Then there is the OP's statement that the other tree had very little damage. Maybe the OP would know if there were cicadas in the area. JMHO OT
Cicada damage:

 

[peace2008]

Thanks so much for the reply’s and the help. It is odd how the oak in the picture is covered in dead leaves and there’s another oak like 50 feet away and it isn’t covered in them. I did see one cicada shell on the porch below the tree but haven’t looked for more. Maybe it’s twig insects as well as cicada. The lilac bushes all have had dead leaves too but I thought that the weed killer spray along the roads had drifted into the yard. Probably not I guess. TY. This picture is of a lilac leaf dead.

 

[jolj]

View attachment 1010351This is a giant and old oak tree. There are dead leaves all over it. Is it dying?

Looks like breaks from a bad storm.
We had four very large oaks, until Hugo hit the east coast in 1989. Still have one of them, but the others are ash in the wind. It was old when I was born, 61 years ago.