fried oak

[murphy4trees]

I was doing estimates in a neighborhood full of 100-125' oaks yesterday and saw what looks like the beginning of a plague... lot of dead and dying trees... big ones...
In at least two cases it looks as though improper pruning left the trunks exposed to the burn of direct sun... you can see the results.. to me this props up Guy's teaching on leaving stubs to sucker out and provide some shade.
I know at least on this first tree... the customer said there was some storm damage last spring and they had the tree cut as seen.

 

[murphy4trees]

close up of the cut

here's a close up of that cut

 

[murphy4trees]

another tree

and a second oak ... same neighborhood... similar size, cuts and condition. these are both 3K+ removals.. saw a bunch more and some early signs of things to come in many other trees

 

[murphy4trees]

another gonner

big oak too!

 

[murphy4trees]

There was a third tree recently died and removed from this property... another monster...

And I give these two less than 5 years... for sure the one on the right... And the company that did the removal left a big shiner on the tree on the right... then told the customers to use cambistat...
What a shame!

 

[murphy4trees]

MM,
No drought... cool summer ... lots and lots of rain...

We're not supposed to have oak wilt in this part of Pa yet.... But ya have to wonder... there are a lot of trees dying here... and it appears to be more than improper pruning.... If oak wilt has made it here, we're gonna get slammed.... i guess the thing is I know in my heart that all these oaks will be gone in another 10-20 years.... Makes me want to cry....... and buy a crane...

Lat I heard Oak wilt had made it as far east as Pittsburg... Should I call the agricultural extension agent or something?

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

we have the same problem overhere with quercus robur 7out of 10 are showing extreme signs of distress ie stag heading growth dyeing at a tops i have looked up stag heading in my books etc and so far there is no proof of what the cause is though fungal attack is the most probabal cause

i have noticed that over the last 10 years crown dyieng or stag heading call it what you want has increased with the warmer winters we have had imo it's a lot to do with global warming..

 

[murphy4trees]

OK,
Talked to the ag extension agent in a local county office of penn state U.... She was out looking at a similar neighborhood about 8 miles away with devestated oaks, the disease just moved right down the street... sent a sample away, but it wasn't good enough so they need another... she was thinking oak wilt too!

She gave me the info on a testing lab in indianna...

http://www.agdia.com/testing/

They said they have no confirmed cases of oak wilt in Pa. Costs $48 for the test... I'd like to send a sample away.... They want limbs on dying branches... 1/2"-1" diameter...

This could be bad!

 

[Al Smith]

Dying white oak

I have a large white oak,with the same problem.I just noticed it about 2 weeks ago.This,also is a big one,at about 3 1/2' dbh,and 100' high.It has a lot of good lumber,but I would prefer to keep the tree.I will watch it,and if it doesn't recover,next year,will remove in the fall .

 

[John Stewart]

Hey
Kind of looks like the oaks in the Toronto area.
They have given it a cute name"Oak Decline"
I don't think they know what is up yet but I think it is a combo of years of adverse weather and pollution and biotic effects
How long can something hang on under those conditions
I think the urban canopy is about to change forever as we know it!
We better get busy planting instead of lookin at removals!
And I am not pointing fingers cause I do my fair share of them!
Makes you wonder though!
Later
John

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Murph I agree those pics showed some whole-branch removal that could/should have been branch reduction instead. Ugly holes in trees, starving and straining them, made by someone who did not understand how to shorten a branch and shape a tree. Sad. But sunscald does not seem to be the problem.

Check twigs for signs of life and if there are any, it's not a removal--yet. Check the dieback -patterns on the leaves and compare to anthracnose and scorch--Xylella fastidiosa. Get the leaves to your ext agent too.

I've seen way more than usual of both on white and post and willow oaks this year. I've seen some very impressive pictures and data on the use of cambistat on both anthracnose and scorch, so I am recommending it where those pathogens are ID'd. Along with the usual root therapy, mulch fert aerate.

You're on the right track--first, know thy enemy.

 

[John Stewart]

You boy's are lucky we can't use hardly any of the products you have!
Thats why we are in the removal biz!
Later

 

[John Stewart]

We have just noticed Two Line Chesnut Borer in our area!
The local municipality thinks we are the front line in battlin this pest!
At a local meeting I brought up the point that it is a secondary pest and that it only attacked weakened oaks and not healthy ones!
The point was lost as the forester for the city was show boatin for the press!
Also his blank look and comment that he wouldn't know a 2 line if if stepped on it kind of said I was wastin my time!
Nasty little creature none the less total mortality in 3-4 years!
Yikes
Later
John

 

[murphy4trees]

Was driving around with a fresh perspective today and man did I get an eyefull... have to post pics ;ater... looks like every pin oak in my neighborhood is dying and saw anoter dozen or more big dying red oaks... there is definitely something going on... amybe it's just stress from some serious drout for 3 of 4 years in 98-'02... But it seems to me to be much more than that... acid rain...
Makes me realize I could use to work on my pathology... never liked that end of the biz though...

 

[Tree Machine]

Daniel, I'm real sorry to know that about the trees. I've seen entire oak forests wiped out in upper Michigan by the Gypsy Moth, and now there's the emerald headed ash borer cutting a wicked wide swath through the ash trees of southern, Michigan / Northern Ohio.

When people say, "Must be good for your business" they don't get it that if we can't save the trees, we're not doing our business. Takedowns isn't tree care. Takedowns is takedowns.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by murphy4trees
it seems to me to be much more than that... acid rain...
Makes me realize I could use to work on my pathology... never liked that end of the biz though...

It's an end of the business we all need to get good at. Man is screwing up climate and the rest of nature so bad that new tree problems will get to be old in a hurry.

"if we can't save the trees, we're not doing our business. Takedowns isn't tree care. "

Tree Machine knows. Get out the hand lens and crack open some books; it's different from climbing and cutting but so are the results.
:angel:

Stewie, you can't use growth regulators in Canada?

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

so GUY like me you believe like me that most or a lot of theses microscopic fungal diseases are to be blamed on global warming??

we have so many realy sick oaks here at the moment its unbeleivable,yet councils etc seem to be burying there heads in the sand..i simply cannot find any info on the subject ..sorry to go off topic but we have a new serious diseases overhere check out this poplar scab www.aie.org.uk .....manchester has had to fell 700 poplars and as many are destined for the same fate

 

[alanarbor]

I'm in the Philadelphia area as well, most of the oaks are getting hammered by bacterial leaf scorch, and anthracnose. It seems a bit odd for the amount of BLS, as that's usually a problem brought on by drought, but the conditions have been prime for anthracnose. I'm willing to bet there's some serious soil compaction issues on at least a few of those trees.

 

[murphy4trees]

Bacterial leaf scorch

OK,
Looks like it is baterial leaf scorch... Very bad news...

Here's a link!

http://www.fs.fed.us/na/morgantown/fhp/palerts/leaf/leaf.htm

It talks about remedial efforts to extend a trees life... I just don't understand that thinking... this is an ifecxtious disease with no known cure... Makes sense to cut all the bad ones down ASAP...

 

[Ax-man]

There have been confirmed cases of BLS in the southern part of Illinois. Seems it has escaped from the east coast and worked it's way through Kentucky into Illinois.

How many more tree and animal species do we have to sacrifice before we wake up and finally realize that if we don't change our ways soon, it is going to be too late to reverse the effects of mistreating this planet, we depend on for our own survival.

Losing the American Elm to DED was a stellar example of what not to do, but did we learn from this, IMO, No we did not. Now we are faced with more plaguematic diseases, coupled with new insect threats, that promise to further devistate our landscape.

It wasn't that long ago that the problems we are facing now, were more or less isolated novelty cases that were in text books, today they have become a harsh reality that we are going to pay a price for tampering with natures built in defense system.

Larry