Whats going on here?

[sb47]

I had to take down a big water oak for safety reasons. It had big limbs randomly breaking off and crashing down.
Because of it's location and size (right outside my wood shop) I got tired of dealing with it so I took it down.
I took a few pictures and was wondering that by looking at them someone could tell me what was going on with that tree.

First pics of the tree while it was still standing.

Bottom of the flair was 48"

Two feet up, no rot or signs of damage or stress on the lower trunk.

The next set of pics are of the upper limbs.
Many of the upper limbs had damaged places on the top of the limbs. After the limbs got big enough and heavy enough, they would break off and fall.
Some were very large limbs in upwards of 12'' and larger.
Something caused the damage that lead to the limbs breaking off.
Any ideas?
Here is a spot that is weeping.

Here is one that looks like it rotted from the inside.

Here you can see the damage that was done years before.

The big hole where it use to be.

As you can see a lot of limbs were damaged and ready to break and fall.
Any ideas what caused the damage?
Thanks

 

[johnnyballs]

I had to take down a big water oak for safety reasons. It had big limbs randomly breaking off and crashing down.
Because of it's location and size (right outside my wood shop) I got tired of dealing with it so I took it down.
I took a few pictures and was wondering that by looking at them someone could tell me what was going on with that tree.

First pics of the tree while it was still standing.

Bottom of the flair was 48"

Two feet up, no rot or signs of damage or stress on the lower trunk.

The next set of pics are of the upper limbs.
Many of the upper limbs had damaged places on the top of the limbs. After the limbs got big enough and heavy enough, they would break off and fall.
Some were very large limbs in upwards of 12'' and larger.
Something caused the damage that lead to the limbs breaking off.
Any ideas?
Here is a spot that is weeping.

Here is one that looks like it rotted from the inside.

Here you can see the damage that was done years before.

The big hole where it use to be.

As you can see a lot of limbs were damaged and ready to break and fall.
Any ideas what caused the damage?
Thanks

limbs break off and leave tears that do not heal properly...water gets in and the wood rots...looks like you had some woodpeckers working on it too...any tree can start to fail at any time, but sometimes the elements (wind, rain, drought, lightning, insects) do not help...i'm not an arborist but i hope i gave you a little info...there is a disease called oak wilt out there now, but i'm not sure if it affects that type of oak...cheers !!!

 

[farmer steve]

i'll agree with @johnnyballs on possible causes and add that possible root compaction being in that location. at 4 feet across at the base could have been old age. life span of the water oak is 60-80 years. i guess it made a bunch of fire wood.

 

[Deleted member 116684]

On the street where I live they planted water oaks up and don the road, in between the curb and the side walk. A couple weeks ago the state had to cut them down, maybe 15 in all. They were doing the same thing, just falling apart from limbs rotting and the water getting to the trunks. Storms were knocking boughs on peoples houses and it was getting kinda dangerous. They had been around for about 70 years, so some of them were pretty nice size.

 

[sb47]

limbs break off and leave tears that do not heal properly...water gets in and the wood rots...looks like you had some woodpeckers working on it too...any tree can start to fail at any time, but sometimes the elements (wind, rain, drought, lightning, insects) do not help...i'm not an arborist but i hope i gave you a little info...there is a disease called oak wilt out there now, but i'm not sure if it affects that type of oak...cheers !!!

I figured something caused the damage. The tree was around 40 to 45 years old. I have seen wood peckers (mostly sap suckers) but the signs you are looking at are probably where the guy clime the tree to piece it down.
To me it looks like the limbs split or were torn (maybe high winds) because all the damage looks the same on all the limbs.
All the damaged areas were on the top of the limbs, not under neath or on the sides. It was all on the top, facing up (if that helps)
The tree always did well in that spot, only after it was about 40 years old before it started drooping big limbs.
I miss the shade it provided but I do like the bigger open area now that its gone.

 

[mga]

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/water-oak-dying.152974/

quoted:

While Fusiform uses oaks and other harddwoods for a secondary host, I don't think that it is lethal. Usually a water oak succumbs to flood and/or drought conditions and old age. It is susceptible to galls, mistletoe, and diseases of trunk and crown, but its main demise is its short life. When they have root problems you will see it in the crown first. Root stress causes the tips of the twigs to die back. They wil drop their leaves and eventually so will larger branches if the roots aren't recovering. It is trying to balance its crown with the deprived ability to gather nutrients through the roots. Even this is lethal only when prolonged.

 

[johnnyballs]

proper pruning on a regular basis may have prolonged it's life...but who knows, sometimes trees just "run out of steam"...

 

[sb47]

proper pruning on a regular basis may have prolonged it's life...but who knows, sometimes trees just "run out of steam"...

I think it would have lived just fine. But it was just more trouble then it was worth. If it had been in another location I may have left it.

 

[svk]

On the street where I live they planted water oaks up and don the road, in between the curb and the side walk. A couple weeks ago the state had to cut them down, maybe 15 in all. They were doing the same thing, just falling apart from limbs rotting and the water getting to the trunks. Storms were knocking boughs on peoples houses and it was getting kinda dangerous. They had been around for about 70 years, so some of them were pretty nice size.View attachment 573859

How was that to hand split?

 

[Deleted member 116684]

How was that to hand split?

I used a wedge and fiskars isocore to quarter it. That was the labor, after that it was fun. I enjoy splitting wood with the x27.

 

[Guswhit]

My money is on stress caused from the root compaction. From the picture it appears that it was in a driveway area. With the compaction and then the sun beating down warming up the ground on top of the feeler roots. But, I am not an arborist or botanist.