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Red Oak Concern

1,722 Views | 8 Replies | Last: 1 mo ago by Texker
Good Bull Jones 17
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AG
I have two red oaks in my front yard. House built in 2014. One of them is concerning me, because all the leaves on one side are withered and yellow. I water my yard once a week, and water the tree every now and then if it's been dry.

Anyone have any thoughts on what could be going on with it? Is my tree ok? Let me know if I need better or more pictures.






Apache
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Right now just need pictures we can see
Good Bull Jones 17
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Fixed, thank you! Noob.
ftworthag02
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https://neilsperry.com/2016/08/question-of-the-week-2-september-1-2016/
Good Bull Jones 17
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That is very depressing. I wonder if I should just bite the bullet now and replace the tree. and then wondering about the other one
tgivaughn
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Well, IF using alkaline/sodium rich city water irrigation ala College Station & Wellborn Water, then that would be the first to stop if trying to save it. Rainwater and native soils might bring it back but Acidic mulch, peat moss might help it adjust faster.

There are plenty of Pin Oaks (a sort of red oak) prospering on Wellborn Water surrounded by St Augustine in Aggieland producing lots of nuts but not so confined by the concrete in your photos.

One neighbor's trick in growing Slash Pines for 20 years (now gone) was to create a moat or leaky 5gal buckets to slow soak release 13-13-13 + sulphur fertilizer dissolved in 7ph city water when 5ph rain water ran out. An R.O. water system might not provide enough in another drought + making you carry all that twice/week.

That said, I have a black thumb
IMHO and am sticking to it
Good Bull Jones 17
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Well I'm going to try something along those lines for sure! I'll update with how it turns out.
Good Bull Jones 17
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Ok update. I got in touch with David Vaughan (San Antonio area semi-retired arborist) and he told me something that should have been obvious…. Root flare!!! I had not exposed it. So I have fully exposed it. And hopefully the tree heals in 2 months or so.

With that, he noted that if it was grown in East Texas and not adapted to the alkaline soils in the San Antonio area, it may never recover. Or if it has a bad case of girdling root, it may never recover. For both of these reasons, he advised not to buy your trees from a box store.






Texker
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I'm a root flare junkie. I've posted about root flare numerous times over the years. Also, your mulch is not mulch. It's most likely dyed pallet chips Absolute poison. Expose the root flare and be done. And use TX cedar for mulch.
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