Need Help with Black Oak Tree

[benali]

Hi everone,

I have a black oak tree out on my median, planted ten years ago. In the past year or two, I've noticed that the outer ends of many of the branches lack leaves. I don't notice any insects or bark problems. I did try giving it a few tree food spikes last year but they didn't help.

The attached photo shows how the branches lack leaves towards the ends. Unfortunately you can't see how this affects the branches pointing towards the camera, just those to the sides, but almost all the branches appear affected.

Any ideas or advice? Thank you.

[tomc]

A google search did not turn up for me any obvious disease that might be responsible for the decline your photo shows. Which makes drouth (or road salt) the likely culprits that jump out at me.

Your continued searches may vary.

[benali]

Thanks for replying, Tomc. Yes, I couldn't find anything via google either. I don't see any signs of disease or damage. I doubt it's drought, just because this has been continuing thru rainy and dry spells. Well, maybe I'll get lucky and someone on this forum will know. Meanwhile, thank you for trying to help.

[Smallgardener]

benali, where are you at?
I know we had a late hard freeze here. I have no fruit this year. It got so cold that it froze the blooms on the cherry trees before they bloomed. I also have a fruitless mulberry tree that is late to leaf out and the ends of the branches are behind the rest of the tree.

Good luck I hope it is nothing serious.

[benali]

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd post a follow-up, as I believe I found the answer to my problem ...

I walked around the neighborhood and noticed that many trees have this same problem (esp ashes, it seems). So I got on the web and found that last year we had the biggest drought in many years. So it's affecting many of the trees here in the great lakes area, not just mine, and the typical sympton is lack of leaves near the ends of branches.

Armed with this knowledge, I dug out grass running up to the tree, and put in mulch. So now there's a ring around the tree of bark, etc, to keep away grass that competes for water. Plus I'll water the tree any time this summer that we don't get enough rainfall. This should probably restore it to better health over time.

Cheers!

[Smallgardener]

That sounds right. In this area we have a 3 year drought going on and then throw in the 20 degree weather in mid April and there are large cottonwood trees that have died back at the top and are bushed out below trying to make up for the damage.

[tomc]

I feel so much better when a guess turns up right.

Expect watering a landscape tree to need 50 or more gallons of water at a go.