What's wrong with my tree??

14 years ago

I have what I believe to be a red oak tree in my front yard. It was planted by the contractor when the house was constructed in 2007. I'm assuming the tree is 7 or 8 years old. Ever since we moved in, the bark on the tree hasn't looked so great. It seemed like there was always a lot of sap oozing from the trunk. This attracted wasps and other flying insects to the tree. I also had a pretty bad ant infestation around the base of the tree about a year ago. Anyway, I've taken some pictures and I'm hoping someone can tell me if my tree has a serious problem or not. After taking these pictures, I removed as much of the mulch as I could from around the base of the tree to find the "root flare". I ended up removing about 2 inches. Not sure if this is important or not, but the pictures were taken in the late afternoon. The side of the tree that I'm worried about faces SSE and gets the majority of the sun. Thanks in advance for your help.

Jon

Pictures: http://tiffanyhphoto.smugmug.com/Other/Tree/23179814_BHRNMP#!i=1868044942&k=Chv5QHw

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
it is TRYING to heal from an egregious historical wound .. that happened God knows how many years back ...

WELCOME TO GW and the tree forum ...

it may or may not survive.. and it may take 5 or 10 years to die ...

and i would invest nothing into it ...

and if it bugs you.. get rid of it.. and plant a replacement in the NEXT PROPER PLANTING SEASON... which i would guess is not june/july or august .. in TX ...

frankly ... on my 5 acres.. i could ignore it forever.. but i dont know if if could leave that thing on my front lawn as the only tree out there.. a pride thing ...

good luck

ken

ps: i used big words because you were wearing a starched long sleeve white shirt.. in TX in the afternoon .. lol ...
famartin
14 years ago
PS, its not a red oak. Its in the red oak side of the oak family, but its not Q. rubra.
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mackel_in_dfw
14 years ago
As is typical, the tree was poorly planted, and never even had a chance. What we call in Texas "red Oak" is a common term for Quercus texana (Quercus shumardii). Not only can you get three foot of growth annually with this native, it won't get sick on you if it's planted right, which for here means "above grade", or with the root flare slightly above ground level. Planting in mounds is also a very good idea. The bottom of the trunk should be about twice the diameter of the base of the trunk when planted correctly.

Mackel
mackel_in_dfw
14 years ago
In addition, "one" of the finest trees anywhere in North America...'course, that's braggin' though it's one of "our" finest oaks...There's a native to the hill-country, Quercus laceyii ("Lacey"), I have one, it's rather slow but real perdy, too. For yanks, hill country is where you might find Willie Nelson hiding in the thicket while his band sits at the bar...and a premier north american road tour with canyons and everthang for motorcyclists and travelers alike...anyway...lol...come down, bring your money... watch for rattlers...and if you you get reel skeered, you can shoot it...'course, ya got to eat it then.

Mackel
jqpublic
14 years ago
It doesn't look like a shumard either. Looks like another thread about the a neighborhood w/ mass-planted nuttall oaks. It looks like it was planted too deeply.