What's killing my oaks?

[Tap]

Although not preferred over oak I have; osage orange, hackberry, ash, elm, and a few others waiting in the shadows. They'll take off with a little light.

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Don't count on having those ash for forever. The Emerald Ash Borer will get there eventually. It's almost impossible to find a surviving ash around here. We have areas that are 75% ash and they are all dead.

And it seems like Beech is becoming threatened, too. Not to mention Blue Spruce and Hemlock.
http://ecosystems.psu.edu/research/projects/deer/news/2016/let-them-call-me-a-tree-hugger

 

[Catscratch]

Don't count on having those ash for forever. The Emerald Ash Borer will get there eventually. It's almost impossible to find a surviving ash around here. We have areas that are 75% ash and they are all dead.

And it seems like Beech is becoming threatened, too. Not to mention Blue Spruce and Hemlock.
http://ecosystems.psu.edu/research/projects/deer/news/2016/let-them-call-me-a-tree-hugger

I remember you talking about ash and cutting the mature tops off to save the root system. Have you done anything with this idea? Is it working that you can tell?

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[Tap]

I remember you talking about ash and cutting the mature tops off to save the root system. Have you done anything with this idea? Is it working that you can tell?

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Yeah, I cut a lot of them and got pretty good stump sprouting. But that ship has pretty much sailed here because we have very few ash trees alive. It has to be done before the trees die while the roots are still alive. http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/ash-trees.6434/#post-122941
I should probably post a pic on the other thread Cheap browse and cover - easy too.

 

[Big Snow Man]

One other point is that injuries close to the bottom of the tree may have been caused by a fire in the area long time ago. I have some very large oaks that have hollowed out and fell over due to a fire that went thru our area in 1956. All of them had injury down at the base of the tree.

 

[Nova]

We have a bunch of oaks on our farm dying and tipping over. I have had several tree specialists out to look at them. We had a bad drought 3-4 years ago which weakened the trees, then a boring beetle came in and killed the weak trees. Pull off some of the bark and you can see tracks/grooves in the wood just under the bark if you have the beetles. There is nothing you can do to stop them. All you can hope for is a couple good summers to get the trees strong again and they can then survive with the beetles. Sucks, I am loosing a lot of old mature red oaks, but I got all the firewood I can cut. I have been planting 100's of red oak bare roots to replace them, but that will take 20-30 years for them to mature and grow acorns.

 

[wiscwhip]

For guys losing oaks due to wilt or other issues, plant some hybrid bur oaks, in most cases they will grow faster and produce sooner than native red oak types.

 

[Nova]

For guys losing oaks due to wilt or other issues, plant some hybrid bur oaks, in most cases they will grow faster and produce sooner than native red oak types.

I have never heard of them. Where do you get them and what are they crossed with?

 

[wiscwhip]

Lots of different types of hybrid oaks out there, depending on what climate Zone you are in. Kelly Tree Farm out of Iowa sells Schuette's Oaks(should be hardy to Zone 3), which are a naturally occurring bur/swamp white cross that many guys find success with. Some sources claim that white oaks are less affected by oak wilt than the red types. Bebb's Oak is a white/bur cross that can be had from some suppliers and should also work in MN.