Dead Trees???

[davejones]

Hey All,

I am looking for advice from the experts. I have several trees that I think are dead or dieing. My guess is that they couldn't handle the drought conditions over the past couple years.

Here are some details and my estimates on the sizes. I can post pictures if that helps at all. I am wondering if there is any chance that some of these are not dead, but "hibernating" from the drought. Any chance of these types of trees going through periods of slowed/stopped growth and then returning to life? (Please say yes, as I don't want to lose all of them ). Should I wait until next spring to see what happens?

Small oak tree (6-8 inch diameter base, 20ft tall) - this one looks bad, lost it's leaves mid-summer, bark is peeling off. Pretty confident this one is toast. Easy enough to turn into firewood unless there is interest in some small turning blanks.

Med sized oak (14-16 inch diameter base, 40ft+ tall) - this one showed no new growth this spring and bark is starting to peel. Again I assume it's toast. Not sue it this is big enough to dice up for lumber by itself (maybe if I have another tree to cut at the same time). Would this be of interest for the turners?

Large Tulip Poplar (18+ inch diameter base, 50-60ft tall) - started loosing leaves late summer. This one is close to the house and I wouldn't be comfortable touching it myself. Assuming it would be big $$$ to have it removed if it is dead. Any chance it is just hibernating?

Large Oak (24+ inch diameter base, 50-60ft tall) - started loosing leaves a couple months ago. Another big one that I would hate to lose. Any chance of it coming back to life? If it is dead, I think I may have it cut into lumber. Maybe all quarter sawn this time.


BTW, I don't consider any of these to be yard trees. My place is only ~ 3yrs old and prior to that it was a naturally wooded area. Obviously there are no guarantees, but the oak that I had diced up didn't have any foreign objects in it, and I would expect the same from these.


Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks,
Dave

[jeff...]

Originally Posted by davejones

Hey All,

I am looking for advice from the experts. I have several trees that I think are dead or dieing. My guess is that they couldn't handle the drought conditions over the past couple years.

Here are some details and my estimates on the sizes. I can post pictures if that helps at all. I am wondering if there is any chance that some of these are not dead, but "hibernating" from the drought. Any chance of these types of trees going through periods of slowed/stopped growth and then returning to life? (Please say yes, as I don't want to lose all of them ). Should I wait until next spring to see what happens?

Small oak tree (6-8 inch diameter base, 20ft tall) - this one looks bad, lost it's leaves mid-summer, bark is peeling off. Pretty confident this one is toast. Easy enough to turn into firewood unless there is interest in some small turning blanks.

Med sized oak (14-16 inch diameter base, 40ft+ tall) - this one showed no new growth this spring and bark is starting to peel. Again I assume it's toast. Not sue it this is big enough to dice up for lumber by itself (maybe if I have another tree to cut at the same time). Would this be of interest for the turners?

Large Tulip Poplar (18+ inch diameter base, 50-60ft tall) - started loosing leaves late summer. This one is close to the house and I wouldn't be comfortable touching it myself. Assuming it would be big $$$ to have it removed if it is dead. Any chance it is just hibernating?

Large Oak (24+ inch diameter base, 50-60ft tall) - started loosing leaves a couple months ago. Another big one that I would hate to lose. Any chance of it coming back to life? If it is dead, I think I may have it cut into lumber. Maybe all quarter sawn this time.


BTW, I don't consider any of these to be yard trees. My place is only ~ 3yrs old and prior to that it was a naturally wooded area. Obviously there are no guarantees, but the oak that I had diced up didn't have any foreign objects in it, and I would expect the same from these.


Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks,
Dave

Find out what's killing your tress

'My place is only ~ 3yrs old and prior to that it was a naturally wooded area." (compacted soil around the roots?)

I hate to see them die a young death.

[DaveO]

I would have to agree with jeff.... 3 years after new construction you can start to see the effects of root zone compaction and/or root damage. That effect could be sped up by throwing in the drought conditions we've recently faced.
The trees with the bark peeling off are definitely dead. There is a slight chance that the larger Oak and Tulip Poplar might recover and if they are important to you there is no harm in waiting another season to see if they improve. But if their condition doesn't improve have them taken down before they are fully dead. Removal of a dead tree is much more dangerous (expensive) than the removal of a live one, especially close to a structure.


Dave

[JimD]

I've had to cut down a couple dead oak trees that were probably impacted by our house constuction plus crowding from other trees (mostly oaks). I let both sit a year before deciding they were really dead and both had some rot in the sapwood. I just cut them up for firewood so it didn't matter a lot but if you want the wood, you may not want to wait real long. Both were more than a foot in diameter (and pretty tall).

Jim

[sapwood]

Another possibility for the trees dying 3 years after construction could be root damage by digging for foundation, drain lines, water lines, etc. Roots cut in the soil sometimes do not exhibit damage for a couple of years.

Roger

[Kyle]

impaction and or root rot can easily occur when you have severe drought then significant rain fall.