Need help to ID sick oak

[hobby climber]

Customer wants the tree removed because he thinks its dieing. Pic #1 & #2 show dark spots on trunk section and some dark substance leaching out of bark. Its dry now but I've never seen anything like it before. Also, Pics #3 & #4 show small cream colored fuzzy fungus growth spots about an inch in size on trunk. Customer said the trees been in decline for about 3-4 years. Canopy is lighter in color than normal and noticeably more sparse in it foliage than other oak trees in area. Its growing in good dark & rich soil located within minutes of the Detroit River in Ontario, Canada. (Michigan's on the other side of the river). So... any ideas as to what this dark stuff could be? When I asked the customer if he had noticed any mushrooms/toadstool etc growing on the ground when he's cutting the grass, he indicated he did but only started this year. So what is this dark stuff on trunk? Are we talking T/D or what? Thanks in advance for your help. HC

 

[TreeJunkie]

From what i see so far i can't recommend a coarse of action. How about a picture of the crown. I'm not sure what your problem is exactly. Could probobally figure it out with a little work though.

 

[treeseer]

The weeping wounds look like slime flux.

Nope. They look like Phytophthora to me. Search sudden oak death for very similar pictures. Try Phosphite to control, or remove depending on severity, condition etc.

Packing flowers around the flare traps moisture there and aggravates if not causes these soilborne infections. troweling near the flare cuts roots, flowers can bring in disease from the nursery, you connect the dots. nO offense to your client, but that is one idiotic, tree-unfriendly landscape.

 

[treeseer]

Are we talking T/D or what? Thanks in advance for your help. HC

hc whenever you are asked this question, it is tough to answer it without inspecting the trunk flare. This takes time, and you should be paid for that time; just tell the guy $1/minute, and if he wants to save $ by helping you dig then that's good too?

Dan I can't keep track of your ins and outs with the doghouses. seems almost as unhealthy as ins and outs in cathouses. Just don't catch anything nasty, you heah?

Everyone should know what Phytop looks like; thought it was a warmwether thing but there it is in canada. yikes!

 

[hobby climber]

Re: Phytophathora (Phytop)...

I found an old link... www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=16332 *So does anyonehave any pics of this for me to compair to? Also, is there any agreed upon treatment for it? I spoke to one of the areas leading tree service and they tell me that they've been seeing this in the area slowly spreading for 2-3 years now. They sent off a sample & the only thing they were told was that it isn't SOD. HC

 

[treeseer]

Thanks for linking the thread; it's wonderful to see how little I've learned in 3.5 yrs phytophthora is often hard to ID. There's another chemical to use besides subdue that has a different mode of action. Just google phytophthora for more.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

What you are seeing is sap ooze from damage caused by a boring insect called Red Oak Borer, Enaphalodes rufulus.

 

[hobby climber]

I've reviewed all the info you guys have given me but it doesn't match what is happening with the tree. Mike Mass, I surfed the web for pics of the trunk of the oozing area, what I've found is not whats on the tree in question. On the subject tree, it is a harden black or deep purplish hue colored substance in patcheds on the bark. It isn't a moist area at all or darken by a liquid, (sap), unless the sap is a thick very dark hard dry like substance brittle in texture. So far from what I've been able to find out...the local and government authorities seem to be stumped as to what it actually is! I'll keep posting as I find out more but any help you guys can offer would be welcomed. HC

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Trust me, I'd bet lunch that that's the Red Oak Borer. Carefully scrape the bark away at one of the spots and you'll find a hole going straight into the wood.
If you have a thin, stiff piece of wire, you can probe for the hole without scraping up the bark. It's a big hole, like the size of a BB. In fact, you'll learn that is a management technique, to kill the borer.
The reason nobody knows what it is, is because the insect isn't normally that far north. We've had a series of warm winters and they have moved north.
It took us a while down here to figure it out. When you root around in the crust, you'll find Nitadulids, fly larvae, and other wierd bugs going after the sap, which is now a mix of frass, sap, and a mix of several different excramants.

Do you have Sinclair's big disease book (what's it called again?)? He has a very well wrtten discription and pictures of this and a close relative, the White Oak Borer, Goes trigrinus, as well as control, and life cycle information.

Is Oak WIlt in your area? This will be a huge problem. Now the fungus has a way to move from tree to tree. Oak Wilt never had a way to break into the vascular system of Oaks, without storm damage, irresponsible tree trimmers or root grafts. Now the Red and White Borers create the hole into the vascular system, allowing the nitadulids, which attracted to the sap, a way to get the Wilt spores into the trees.
We've had increasing numbers of Oak Wilt reports in White Oaks since the White Oak Borers have move into our area. I worry that both Red and White Oaks in Wilt areas will be about as common as Green Ash in Detroit. Only time will tell if the combination of Borer, Nitidulid, and Wilt will eradicate the Oaks or not.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

As a side note, those light brown bumps are Gypsy Moth egg masses.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Look familiar?

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

And another.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Nobody will talk to me so I'll talk to myself.
After actually reading your post, instead of just looking at the pictures, I see you want to know if it's a take down. Yes, the fool built planters around the base and buried the root flare and lower trunk. He then, or previously, raised the poor trees up so high, he might as well have put in a telephone pole. He is doing repeated applications of lawn fertilizer and weed killer. Then he has Gypsy Moths and Oak Borers. None of these would really explain the yellow leaves. So we may have another problem or problems, and we're not even getting into the mushrooms growing out of the root zone.
What kind of Oak is it? A pH sensitive Pin Oak? Were there any soil disturbances other than the attempted murder by planter box? How old is the landscape?
Ask enough pertinent questions, you'll figure it out.
I recommend removal and replacement with whatever the most common plant there is, I don't know, how about a Spirea, Burning Bush, or Yew? Do not plant another tree for this client.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

http://www.forestryimages.org/cgi-bin/searchthumb.cfm?searchparam=Enaphalodes

Here are a bunch of pics from a very good USFS site.

these are thumb's, if you register with them you can get the files in huge format, but click ing on the pick will get a decent sized veiw.

Alter the search to oak borer, oak death.... and look at different pathologies

I was with Mike as soon as I saw the weeping wound.

Water, low N fert with lots of minor/trace elememts and maybe a shot of metasystox this year and some Merit for next year.

The problem with control of this pest is that it feeds in the cambium the first year or two then moves into the xylem, much like ALB, so control stratageis need to be multi year and combined with cultural practices that will reduce the other stresses that kept the tree from fighting off the pest.

Healthy trees can fight them off and you'll see just one or two seeping wounds. Stressed trees will have them all over as populations increase.

Controling the GM will be a big thing too here since defoliation will just make everything worse.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

From what I've seen, it does not feed in or on the cambium at all, except to chew right through it. It tends to chew in and then up only to exit not far from the entrance hole.
It's boring as such isn't a major health problem for the tree, because it's not hanging out in the cambium area, it's in the xylem, but it is a major problem with devaluing the lumber. As I said before, aiding in disease transmission will be where this insect may make it's biggest mark.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

It's been a few years since I did the research and cannot find anything on a quick search right now, most of my hits were the pics I posted above.

What I remember from then and the litle I found now is that it's a little understood pest because it had low populations until around 10 years ago. The first year grub will feed in the cambium before moving into the zylem in the second year.

They emerge over a long period, so spray controls are problematic.

 

[Tree Wizard]

MM & JPS.
We have been seeing this same thing with oaks the last couple of years. Last fall when we took down the oak in the pics we bagged a couple of 3' sections. This May these long horned beetles came out of the wood - about 20 per 3' section. Phil Pellitteri of the U of WI Insect Diagnostic Lab says they are Sarosethes fulminans. "Under bark and in sapwood of hardwoods - esp oak - considered a firewood insect" This tree wasn't dead, but it was declining. We also had in excess of 50 two-lined chestnut borers in each bag.

 

[hobby climber]

This pic is the closest I've found that looks like what on the tree in question. www.forestryimages.org/images/768x512/0590042.jpg * That would indicate its Red Oak Borer ! Mike, you-da-man ! I also agree with you that there are also more that one problem(s) with the tree. I called in a favor and had a certified arborist who specializes in insects and fungus etc come out and ***** the tree this afternoon. Wasn't able to reach her this evening and will be over on Pelee Island to T/D a couple of trees all day Saturday. I'll get in touch with her Sunday or Monday for sure and see what she came up with. Red Oak Borer is not common to this area at all and many companies (tree CARE companies), and government agencies will have to be made aware on the situation. Then its a matter of treatment or containment...but thats someone else's area much more qualified than me to worry about. I'll know more after the weekend and will let you guys know. Thanks for your help to this point. Hey Mike, once its confirmed...lunch is on me but you buy your own beer! HC

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

MM & JPS.
We have been seeing this same thing with oaks the last couple of years.

In our service area, basically every Oak has these marks. The sample we sent to Phil Pellitteri of the U of WI Insect Diagnostic Lab came back as Goes tigrinus.
After learning it was a longhorned beetle we knew what to look for and were able to see the adults on some of the trees. They are tough little bastards. We couldn't get one to hold still for a picture, so we stabbed it with a pin to hold it down, it lived on for two days.
It looked very much like your third picture, a little different color and stuff.
Did you take those pictures?
Also, what are your feeling about our finding sap beetles in the wound and Oak Wilt?

 

[Tree Wizard]

Mike - Yes, I took the pics. They are very active beetles. We put them in the freezer for about 2-3 minutes to slow them down so we could get some decent pictures.

I would think there would be a good possibility for picnic beetles to transfer oak wilt to a tree at these oozing sites. Particularly if they could work their way past the frass build up and get partially or all the way into the borer's tunnel.

I also think we probably have multiple types of borers working our area. An interesting observation I have is that in 2003 I saw mostly red oaks with this problem; in 2004 it was mostly white oaks and this year it seems to be red oaks again.