"grubber" wrote in message
...

It could be oak wilt, but your description isn't much to base a diagnosis
on. I doubt it's the worms, though.

We also bought because of the large oaks and have had several die. Prior
to
buying, we had an arborist (formerly posting here as Treedoc) come out to
check the trees to give an opinion on whether there was oak wilt. He gave
a
vague answer, and basically said trees don't live forever, plant some
other
trees in case these croak.

I watched for all the 'classic' signs - patterns on leaves etc, but never
saw them as trees died. One symptom that I have seen consistently is
peeling bark, which Brown looked right at and declared not oak wilt.

Drop the money on Alamo. If you catch it early, you can save the tree for
several years. If you get there first, the tree will be safe for several
years, but probably needs 'booster shots' down the road. If the tree
already has dead branches, don't waste your money.

However, the best advice is: trees don't live forever, plant some other
trees in case these croak.

It doesn't sound like he's much of an arborist if that's all he did and
that's all the advice he had to give. There are tests which can be run to
tell if you have oak wilt. If you do have it, it is important to catch the
problem early on to save the tree if possible or at the least remove it so
adjacent trees will not be infected. It sounds like he didn't even give you
advice as to which trees to replant with.

I would not pay someone to tell me things I already know. He should have
given you a difinitive answer. If he can't, I would find someone else who
can.