most likely.. its near dead down to where the trunk is sprouting ....

in the worst case.. cut it down to that point ... and you might be surprised how fast it grows with no insult to the root zone.. presuming the problem isnt in the root zone ...

without a pic its hard to make any guesses

ken

Almost certainly not Sudden Oak Death. Other than that, not enough information given to venture anything other than a WAG.

Dan

WAG? In sports teams, "Wives and Girlfriends."

What info. would be helpful?

"Wild a$$ guess?"
The tree was growing so well. This was perhaps twig winter kill on a major scale. We had a cold winter, esp in Feb, perhaps when sap was running. But trunk and branches up to two inches thick were set back. Yet, all other trees did fine right up to the tips, except for one Crepe Myrtle. I was wondering if Nuttall Oaks are at all prone to this major die-back after winter....

try weatherunderground.com and see how cold winter actually was .... and find out what zone winter cold actually was ...

as compared to whatever your zone is..

are the low sprouts coming up where snow cover ended???

i would guess. that all you need is for it to get cold enough to injury the cambian just below the bark.. to have die off... the rest of the thickness of the branch would not make a bit of difference ..

how close to zone pushing are you???? and did your zone change this winter ....

ken

Post a picture of the tree and we can help see if there is anything that might have caused the demise. Be sure to show where the trunk meets the ground and check to see if there are any signs of insects, holes in the trunk, sawdust etc.

I'm well south of the northern line in the range published here. No bugs or sawdust.

Here is a link that might be useful: Info Sheet

Waiting on those pix. Esp of where the trunk meets the ground.

Dan

Provenance perhaps. Yes you are within the range of the species, but it also extends pretty far south.

if you are just south of its northern limits...

and winter dipped a bit further south this season.. or last...

then it got too cold..

find out how cold it got... wherever you are .... since you dont seem to want to tell us

ken

I am outside Baltimore. The info sheet shows its zone into Pensylvania. I'm about forty miles from there, so it is fairly close. We did not have super cold days, but we did have very long stretches of colder than normal weather. Maybe it was the cold. And the snow line was not a factor.

Almost every respondent requested pictures to help with what originally appeared to be a genuine request for help diagnosing a problem.

It is curious that the requested help for additional information to make a diagnosis is not forthcoming.

Since there is no more information forthcoming, I'll come right out and guess that the tree was planted too deeply and as a result is in decline because of it. Without more information, that's the best the OP can expect.

Dan

That data sheet shows a potential planting range of course that's not a guarantee that something will do well or grow everywhere in the shaded area. Sometimes trees originating from a more northern location are required to survive in the northern end of a potential planting range and vice versa.

I'm not convinced it's got anything to do with cold. Those are a fairly adaptable tree but they do like a wet site. Nutalls leaf out late too. Even in the more southerly edges of that shaded area they are just now leafing out. Give it some time and post some pix.

I'm also having a problem with my nuttall. I live in Tennessee and the whole things looks like it's dead. The trunk itself looks a little gray brown at the base. all the leaves are completely orange with some grey brown color on the branches. I have the same tree (nuttall) right next to it on the other side of my yard and that one is fine I water it regularly. Any suggestions on why it's maybe dying and what I should do to help it?

Hard to believe a nuttall oak was hurt badly by cold near Baltimore, unless it was weakened by something else.