Picture 1 is from Friday the 26th. It's lost the vast majority of its leaves.
Picture 2 is from Monday the 22nd when we were first concerned it was losing leaves (gave it a lot of water that day on the recommendation of the guy who planted these).
Picture 3 is also from Friday the 26th, photo is of a slightly smaller live oak from the same place that was planted at the same time and is doing fine.
I texted the guy who sold and planted these but he may be out of the country for the holiday. I had texted him Monday and he advised to water the tree 10 gallons every 2 days and to check back in in a couple of weeks. We watered it, went out of town, got back Friday, and the tree looks much worse. 🙁 We aren't sure what to do. Haven't watered it since Monday but the soil is damp.
I'm worried that we under watered and then over watered Monday, but my husband disagrees especially since the other tree looks fine. We're in Central TX with soil that has a fair amount of clay in it.
Is there anything we can do? Will it possibly come back in the Spring?
by MrsCullyWully
7 Comments
remove the mulch
Yeah, the volcano needs to go! No more than 3 to 4″ of mulch. These are not evergreen.
Lol
Way too much mulch covering (suffocating) the root bundle. Knock that down to no more than 2 inches thick.
In CTX clay soil, water no more than 6-8 gallons 2X per week for new planting that size in winter, in clay. If you over-water in clay soil you -will- get root rot, and the tree will die. Ask me how I know…
Right now, it’s prob going thru transplant shock & suffering under that mountain of mulch.
Is there enough room for the spread of the future canopy? They can get fairly large.
After you remove the mulch post pictures. I have a feeling if it was planted with this much mulch the flare of the tree is also buried. And would absolutely explain the intense dieback.
Quercus fusiformis is a Texas Live Oak they have a very unique foliage pattern they’re not thick like most people think of a live oak. That being said it may be a thinner oak but it is definitely showing distress from either transplant or improper planning probably a combination of both
This kind of die back is 100% from it being planted too deep. The mulch is piled too high but I’d be willing to bet that removing it wouldn’t solve the problem. I’d redo it myself and plant at the proper height. This is an epidemic here. Look around your neighborhood, every other house probably has a dying live oak in the yard