My friends have one burr and one white oak, both about 30".
Limbs on both of them look like this.
Limbs on both of them look like this.
What is killing this oak?
- Thread starter svk
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sawjunky23
Just here for the free beer!
Could It be Oak Wilt? A good friend of mine had a nice oak tree start dying. He had a forester come check it out and he was told the tree had oak wilt. He was instructed to drop it and burn it within a year as it can apparently spread from tree to tree.
Could be a lot of things including scale.
I just got to know these folks over the winter so unfortunately I didn't have a chance to see what they looked like last year.
I had texted a picture earlier to a friend of a friend and he just responded that he thinks it is wilt
Any new construction around the trees within the last 3-5 years?
No. House and driveway are 35 years old.
lindnova
ArboristSite Operative
I see a lot of bur oaks around here looking like that. Usually from root compaction or wilt. The white oak group fights the wilt pretty good and sometimes comes back unlike the red oaks. The stress sometimes takes a few years to show up after a dry year or root compaction. I have seen half trees die and the other half lives on for years.
The bur oaks don't usually incubate the patches of fungus under the bark like reds either so less likely to infect other trees.
I try to cut dead reds down soon if possible, but the bur oaks like this are standing storage for me; I am so far ahead on wood and behind on dead trees right now. I let them live as long as possible and even when dead they are still good for over a decade before falling or rotting. Even dead these oaks take 2 years or more to dry proper after splitting - unlike elm that is dry standing with the bark off.
The bur oaks don't usually incubate the patches of fungus under the bark like reds either so less likely to infect other trees.
I try to cut dead reds down soon if possible, but the bur oaks like this are standing storage for me; I am so far ahead on wood and behind on dead trees right now. I let them live as long as possible and even when dead they are still good for over a decade before falling or rotting. Even dead these oaks take 2 years or more to dry proper after splitting - unlike elm that is dry standing with the bark off.
Great info!
I have two huge red oaks in my yard with similar symptoms. One is because of a lighting strike. The lighting also took out the electrical in my shop since the tree sets right next to the shop. The other tree is because a choker cable was wrapped around it back in 1974. I remember because the wrecker was trying to pull a d2 dozer up the side of the mountain and had to anchor off to the tree to winch the dozer. The choker left a large circle of bark stripped off the tree. Black ants made a home inside the tree which I am sure is hollow. I had a bunch of brush chipped and placed around the tree as a mulch back about 15 years ago. The scar has since healed over, I never see any black ants anymore. While there are still a few dead limbs that fall out every now and then, the tree seems to have healed itself and produces a large crop of acorns and leaves every years. I figure sooner or later I will have to take both trees down, but for now, as long as I keep the trees mulched with wood chipping, and they dont pose a danger, I will just let them live.
Back when I was in college we had an area between some dorms with a bunch of oaks that started to go into decline. The forestry department finally decided to have the maintenance crew forego all mowing around the trees. It seemed to help. I believe they came to the conclusion that the ground was becoming too warm and dry for the feeler roots to get the proper nourishment/water. I don't remember all of the particlulars right now, but I'm real close to having the facts correct. Not saying that this is the cause or what I explained to be the solution, just another suggestion.
The lady said she'd like to milk them out as long as possible so we'll leave them be for now. But they would have been a good test for my 2186 
Could be a delayed reaction to a drought or excavation in the close proximity to the root ball and feeder roots. that was done in the resent past. Or maybe new landscaping with to much mulch around the trunk and feeder roots.
