My parents planted a fairly large coast live oak a few years ago (36" box?) and it was planted too deep. There is a girdled root and leaves pile into the depression that I tried to dig out.
I am most worried about the black sores at the root of the trunk. Does this look like sudden oak death? There a ton of ants (carpenter) around the base too, if that makes a difference. Thank you in advance!
by merpymerp
4 Comments
BTW this is in northern California, San Jose area
Certainly looks like phytophthora. As to the species and whether its P. ramorum or one of the others varieties you’ll definitely want to have an arborist from the area come out to confirm it.
That is a tree that was badly misplanted with the bark starting to rot because of it
It’s definitely a canker of some sort. SOD is impossible to ID without a lab test though so if you want to know for sure you’re going to need an arborist onsite to take samples.
Personally I’m more concerned about those roots, it looks like the tree may have already been pot bound when you planted it and they’re growing in a circle around the base, that’s going to girdle your tree in years to come. Those little epicormic sprouts coming out of the base also lead me to believe this tree is stressed right now.
You haven’t been watering it during the day have you? Watering coast live oaks when the temperature is above 50F can cause them to get fungal infections