Pin oak

Marty

We have a Pin Oak we planted three years ago. The first year it was fine. Last year it didn't fully bloom and the leaves didn't look quite fully grown. This year there are no buds or leaves on the existing branches, however there are new shoots in various other spots. We inquired at out garden centre and we're told it may be because our soil is clay based and the roots are having a hard time establishing them selves. Curious why there is new growth, but not growth on the existing branches. Please see the pics and let me know what, if anything we can do. We don't want to lose it, I was hoping to see it grow big and mighty as Oaks will. Thanks.

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Eric Frei

That thing is dying.

The growth you are getting is called an epicormic flush, it's what stressed trees do often in a final ditch attempt to get some photosynthetic leaves out there to make sugars for the tree to live.

So the root system for a tree that size must be well and truly stuffed.

There's a lot more going on here than meets the eye.

We need another good photo of the base of the tree where it goes into the ground and what is around it.

You do not have long, I predict this tree will be dead this season.... but I could be wrong of course as predictions are risky to make and you might be able to reverse this rapid decline.

Can you also go to the tips where it's not growing or budding etc and scrape the bark, see if it is alive or dead beneath, maybe cut a few small bits off and have a good look. I dread the consequences if the established canopy all dies and turns into bug bait, it'll be "banquet on boys, come on over to Marty's for a feast"

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Brent Ferris

I agree with Eric - the tree is making a last ditch effort to try and survive. A pic of the base of the tree may help, also any yard work that has been done in the last 1-2 years. IF clay soil were really a problem (and on its own it is not) the tree would never have grown to that size.

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Marty

Okay I've taken pics of the trunk base, further up the main stem and the whole general area of where the tree is planted.
What are you looking for in the base?
What do you mean when you say "the root system must be truly stuffed"?
I clipped off a piece of branch tip as suggested and scraped away the bark. It was dry and dead, obviously not a good sign.
When we initialized the garden a few years ago we planted the tree and a few plants around it. Every year since we've added a few more plants. Is it possible there's something planted that the tree doesn't gel with? We also usually top up the bed every year with either good topsoil or triple mix, is that a factor? Other than that there is nothing that has been done to that flower bed. We added a little material earlier this year to try and make the soil a little more acidic. If you think there is any chance we might save it what do you suggest we do?

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Joey Meister

if you have added topsoil to the bed every year , have you been adding it right up to the base of the tree trunk? if so you might have buried the trees root flare and that is what may have killed it, mulching is fine as long as you don't mulch up to the trunk, but adding soil on top suffocates the roots

Brent Ferris

We were looking for pics of the base of the tree where it meets the ground, not the lower portion of the trunk. However, the trunk on that size of tree should be smooth, not crackly. I think your tree is dead (or in Eric's terms -- truly stuffed). It is unlikely something you planted is causing the problem -- that quickly -- although a list of plants could eliminate those fears., It is most likely an effect of the amount of topsoil you have added and/or what was in the topsoil -- always from the same supplier? Or perhaps something added to the soil?

__________________
My business: Tree Pruning and Removals -- Strump Removals -- Advice -- Consulting -- Arborist Reports
If you want an honest opinion, call Brent Ferris...because, Trees want to Live Too !
We do great jobs, even in small yards.

Free Estimates Oakville to Oshawa - North to Bradford (Will travel further if cost of travelling covered)

Marty

I probably did add soil right up to the trunk. Not always the same supplier, or soil for that matter. I guess this is what happens when you're inexperienced. So you don't believe there's anything I can do to save it? The pics were/are of the base, when I resized it cut off i suppose. The base looks the same as the trunk further up.

Eric Frei

Did I write this in the wrong language or something?

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Marty

No you did not. I'm having problems resizing the pics and not losing what you need to see. I took the pics of where the trunk meets the ground. Do you have an e-mail where I can send the original pictures? No matter what I do it cuts off the part that needs to be seen. Thanks.

Eric Frei

Perhaps stop cropping and start resizing, they are two different things.

http://www.resizr.com/

http://www.shrinkpictures.com/

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Marty

I wasn't cropping I was resizing. The program you linked me appears to have worked. Two pictures of where the trunk meets the ground.

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Joey Meister

yes it looks like you buried the root collar, taking the dirt off till you see the root flare may help the tree

Marty

Thats it???? Extra watering, nutrients, anything else that might help????

Brent Ferris

Well Marty, you're not that far from me in Oshawa -- I can try and drive out Tues night if you email me an address, for a look see. I expect to be in the east end of Toronto on Tuesday, and could finish off the day coming to see your tree and the situation. If you don't email me an address before 0700, call me on my cell and leave either a text or voice message,. The rest of the week I will be in the west end,

__________________
My business: Tree Pruning and Removals -- Strump Removals -- Advice -- Consulting -- Arborist Reports
If you want an honest opinion, call Brent Ferris...because, Trees want to Live Too !
We do great jobs, even in small yards.

Free Estimates Oakville to Oshawa - North to Bradford (Will travel further if cost of travelling covered)

Eric Frei

Marty, the fact is you have already been doing all that beneath the tree, how did it help? It didn't.

But what you seek is already here.

Search the forum there is plenty about it with evidence, including trees that stay green but then fall over as the original root system died but an adventitious root system continued to keep the tree green, however anchorage was compromised.

Soil Aeration Experiments| Grade Changes| Compaction| Decompaction

200mm boxed grade change| Araucaria columnaris

Tree Damaged By Wind Storm

Queensland Summer 2010 Heavy Rains Coming

Unhealthy melaleuca leucadendra (broad leaf paperbark)

Redwood is turning brown at top

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Brent Ferris

As Eric said, watering and nutrients are not enough, You need to be more proactive - like removing excess soil layer. See other Links Eric posted. HE has done a lot of the work for you -- read them and learn what you need to do.

__________________
My business: Tree Pruning and Removals -- Strump Removals -- Advice -- Consulting -- Arborist Reports
If you want an honest opinion, call Brent Ferris...because, Trees want to Live Too !
We do great jobs, even in small yards.

Free Estimates Oakville to Oshawa - North to Bradford (Will travel further if cost of travelling covered)