One of my live oak trees has been looking a bit off for a while and over the last few months large amounts of bark have been coming off of it. Dying tree? Diseased tree? Oak wilt? Thank you for any advice in advance.
Possibly old freeze damage. Possibly drought related bark splitting. Not much to do besides trying and improving the trees health with a root collar excavation, watering, and maybe some nitrogen fertilizer.
Majestic_Pomelo_8169
A deer rubbed against when it was young. Its probably fine for another decade. But considering in a bunch with several other live oaks, id remove it to alow the others to spread into its space.
snaketacular
I’m not sure what caused the original damage, but the tree appears to be well on the way of trying to compartmentalize with recovery bark. Probably it’ll work, maybe it won’t.
Unrelated, it looks like some of the roots at the base may eventually girdle the tree (or is that trash / leaf litter / a sprinkler head?), so double-check that, and consider removing those roots if you agree.
I wouldn’t normally consider immediate removal “to give the other trees space” as it can be a natural tendency of Escarpment Live Oak to grow in mottes.
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Possibly old freeze damage. Possibly drought related bark splitting. Not much to do besides trying and improving the trees health with a root collar excavation, watering, and maybe some nitrogen fertilizer.
A deer rubbed against when it was young. Its probably fine for another decade. But considering in a bunch with several other live oaks, id remove it to alow the others to spread into its space.
I’m not sure what caused the original damage, but the tree appears to be well on the way of trying to compartmentalize with recovery bark. Probably it’ll work, maybe it won’t.
Unrelated, it looks like some of the roots at the base may eventually girdle the tree (or is that trash / leaf litter / a sprinkler head?), so double-check that, and consider removing those roots if you agree.
I wouldn’t normally consider immediate removal “to give the other trees space” as it can be a natural tendency of Escarpment Live Oak to grow in mottes.
To me it looks like an old lightening strike.
Tis just a scratch.