Shumard Red Oak Issue

[masterdrago]

Our 1 year old Shumard Red Oak is having leaves brown out (die) near ends of top branches. Planted it late last Spring and watered every other day but when we left for a week in June, we came back to a nearly dead tree. It got no water that week. Our soil is very friable fine sandy and drains fast - you can run water in a post hole and it will never fill. This Spring it came back to life except for the two long vee-shaped at top. Watering about once per week - slow and long. Now the upper branches have leaves dying back. Checked and found only the central 18 inches were getting wet. The outer root zone (drip line) is dry from 1"-24" down. I'm watering much more and moving the hose all around root zone yesterday. Any other ideas looking at the pix?

 

[Sagetown]

Howdy masterdrago: U may have to rig a permanent dripline around the tree. I transplanted 5 of them from acorn seedlings several years ago, and so far 3 are still living; two 12foot tall trees, and one about 3foot tall, that died and is starting to come back. I think a gopher may have cut the tap root about 3 years ago.

 

[masterdrago]

Last year after having the "new tree watering when gone" issue and nearly loosing two Red Maples, a Mexican Sycamore, and the Shumard, I built an auto watering system. I actually had 3 "timers" fail in the open position and literally flooded the trees while gone one week. The well pump did not burn out. After the trees got established and the Summer ended, I took up the system because of the all the hoses run over the 1 acre and the failure of the 3rd watering timer valve. I went to a manual system with 5/8" drip hose over the drip line. Took those up when they began to fall apart and bust. Guess I need to build them again. I've also seen mole activity but am not sure they would damage an established tree??

 

[masterdrago]

Since posting a few days ago, the tree is looking worse, 75% of the leaves are brown. The guy at Trees of Texas, where we bought it, says it's getting too wet, then too dry. Water 5 gallons every day this time of year. He also suggest using something called Super Thrive.

 

[TreeKeeper]

masterdrago,

Is oak wilt an issue in you area?
If nearby oak trees are showing these symptoms, that could indicate oak wilt disease.
Oak wilt can be deadly, especially for red oaks. Leaf loss this time of year and the yellow-brown color in the leaves is a symptom as well.
Regardless, you may want to get the tree checked and diagnosed by a professional ASAP. Oak wilt be hard to diagnose, so the sooner the tree is checked, the better.

Hope that oak can get better!