We have lost several on the farm due to an Oak borer. You can see the tiny holes and the sawdust at the base of the trunk. It just makes you sick to see it happen.

I agree, sad, the tree was older than us, we'll not see it replaced with its equal in our lifetime.
Kat

Sorry to hear about your tree Kat. I'm sure the weather HAS been hard them. They're more susceptible to disease and insects when they're weakened from things like loss of limbs and drought.
What I want to know is why my hybrid poplar won't die. lol We had it cut down after the ice storm because it looked like a telephone pole (no limbs) and we even had the stump ground out. I've pulled up hundreds of sprouts coming from the old roots and tried a strong dose of Round-Up a couple times but still have so many sprouts, it looks like a big shrub. I also have several sprouts coming up from my mulberry and hedge trees that we had cut down after the ice storm. I haven't had any sprouts from my oak, syamore or silver maple though. Too bad it wasn't the oak that returned instead of the poplar.

christie, here is an old farmer's trick: carefully pour diesel fuel over the cut stump. I can't tell you how many hedge, elms and various other things we have killed that way. I even use it, very carefully so as not to spill it onto the surrounding soil, in my perennial beds.