Dying (if not dead) oak
 

Hi all,

I have a large oak tree (about 40ft tall, 2-3ft diameter) in my back
yard. Last summer the cicada really did a number on it, killing about
60-70% of the leaves at that time. This summer the killed 60% never
came back, and the tree wasn't looking that great. I Just came back
from vacation to find that huge chuncks on the bark at the base have
fallen off (like half of it on the base), with cracks running up the
sides (presumably telling me that the bark is going to fall off).
Another interesting fact is that I have really let the grass grow up
around the base of the tree, having weed wacked it only once this
summer. Poking around the base of the tree it appears that there are
ants and other nasty things living in the base.

My question(s) is(are): I am I the tree killer, or those noisy cicada?
Would the lack of maintance of the grass with excesive build up cause
the tree to rot? Can Should I dig back to clear the roots? Is there
any hope? Can grass build up cause the base of a tree to rot?

Thanks for any/all input.

don

wrote:
Hi all,

I have a large oak tree (about 40ft tall, 2-3ft diameter) in my back
yard. Last summer the cicada really did a number on it, killing about
60-70% of the leaves at that time. This summer the killed 60% never
came back, and the tree wasn't looking that great. I Just came back
from vacation to find that huge chuncks on the bark at the base have
fallen off (like half of it on the base), with cracks running up the
sides (presumably telling me that the bark is going to fall off).
Another interesting fact is that I have really let the grass grow up
around the base of the tree, having weed wacked it only once this
summer. Poking around the base of the tree it appears that there are
ants and other nasty things living in the base.

My question(s) is(are): I am I the tree killer, or those noisy cicada?
Would the lack of maintance of the grass with excesive build up cause
the tree to rot? Can Should I dig back to clear the roots? Is there
any hope? Can grass build up cause the base of a tree to rot?

Thanks for any/all input.

don


From your description of it there doesn't seem to be much hope for it
-- the insects know a good thing when they see it and a good thing for
them isn't a good thing for the tree. I have no way of telling about
your tree but there is a condition on both the east and west coasts
called "sudden oak death" and that could be what got yours. If you
google for that term you might be able to make a decision. Trees are
able to go on for quite a long time giving no external clues while the
interior of the trunk rots until one day all systems simply fail.

Year before last I had a relatively large oak do exactly the same thing
as yours in my side yard. The only positive is that oak makes pretty
good firewood at least if you harvest it before the rot and insects get
to far into their jobs.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

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