Oak petiole damage

[ATH]

Since I am on a roll...this one is in my yard. White oak. about 10 year old - transplanted as a seedling. Too wet of a spot for white oak if you ask me, but it is growing 2-3' in height per year and 3/4" in diameter in a year, so obviously it is just fine.

Looks like something chewed the petiole, but I cannot find any record of oak petiole borer (and neither did the Ohio State entomologist). I treated the tree with dinotefuran because it is small enough to be cheap and that works on most bugs. No new damage since...but is that because of the treatment or because the damaging agent was "done"? Almost looks like it could be abiotic, but too evenly distributed in such a low intensity for that to make sense. Too small of branches to be squirrel.

 

[Raintree]

Looks like you got hit with a brief wind event, note the bent & twisted petioles. Nice tree!

 

[ATH]

I considered wind - we have had a lot of storms, but nothing else shows any damage anything like this in the area. It seemed too spotty within the tree to be wind. I'd expect more on the west side, but it was well distributed. I can't say I have ruled that out...but the pattern just didn't fit.

I am really happy with the tree...except that the last 3 years, the wind has pushed the top so it is not upright. You can see some of that lean in the picture. I have uprighted the tip the last couple of years, but it is almost like it is growing too fast for its own good. I think I will leave it be and train it in a year or two to see how that goes. Its got a straight 16' saw log on it now

 

[Raintree]

I'm in agreement it looks abiotic, if not wind then something mechanical like a ball or Frisbee? Young vigorous growing trees can have larger than life oversize leaves that can catch more wind.

 

[LaurenH9766]

Since I am on a roll...this one is in my yard. White oak. about 10 year old - transplanted as a seedling. Too wet of a spot for white oak if you ask me, but it is growing 2-3' in height per year and 3/4" in diameter in a year, so obviously it is just fine.

Looks like something chewed the petiole, but I cannot find any record of oak petiole borer (and neither did the Ohio State entomologist). I treated the tree with dinotefuran because it is small enough to be cheap and that works on most bugs. No new damage since...but is that because of the treatment or because the damaging agent was "done"? Almost looks like it could be abiotic, but too evenly distributed in such a low intensity for that to make sense. Too small of branches to be squirrel.

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Wondering if you ever got confirmation of what caused this damage. I have very similar symptoms on a Swamp White Oak in Illinois and came across your post when I was searching for an Oak petiole borer. I have been wondering if it could be mechanical damage due to wind, but have the same evenly spaced, sporadic damage as in your photos.
Thanks!

 

[ATH]

Wondering if you ever got confirmation of what caused this damage. I have very similar symptoms on a Swamp White Oak in Illinois and came across your post when I was searching for an Oak petiole borer. I have been wondering if it could be mechanical damage due to wind, but have the same evenly spaced, sporadic damage as in your photos.
Thanks!

Never did figure that out, but it fully recovered....and has thrived since.

in Spring of 2015 it measured 3 7/16" in diameter. Last fall it was 10 7/8".

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Never did figure that out, but it fully recovered....and has thrived since.

in Spring of 2015 it measured 3 7/16" in diameter. Last fall it was 10 7/8".

Cicadas, maybe?

https://neilsperry.com/2023/07/the-cicadas-are-deafening/

 

[ATH]

That wasn't the case for mine...but not sure about @LaurenH9766 . Cicada's don't deposit eggs in the petiole, its in the twig. Also, we don't have any periodic cicadas left here and it would be exceptional for dog day cicadas to have that much activity.

IL is set to experience a mass emergence of multiple overlapping broods of periodic cicada, but I'm not sure they've started yet?