I have a Spanish oak in my front yard that's been in the ground since 2019. Recently chunks of bark have began to split and fall off. Any ideas what's causing this and how to fix it?

Ruh roh … how do the leaves look?

Leaves are fine, looks completely healthy

Spanish Oaks are a tree waiting to fall.

Here's the whole tree:

In reply to ChoppinDs40

ChoppinDs40 said:

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Texas tech emblem on that car.

Have you had any branch die off?

Kind of looks like hypoxlyon canker

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Mother in law's car.

No branches have died off

In reply to Apache

Apache said:

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Mulch shouldn't touch trunk of the tree and you've got 4-6" of it piled up. This damages the bark and weakens the tree making it suceptable to pathogens like the Hypoxylon canker that your tree has. Probably won't make it much longer, first step is to tear out the bed around it, then call an arborist to see if it is savable.

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Thanks

as it is a Spanish Oak, maybe it is taking a siesta....

In reply to C@LAg

C@LAg said:

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as it is a Spanish Oak, maybe it is taking a siesta....

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Or too much tequila!

In reply to $240 Worth of Pudding

$240 Worth of Pudding said:

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You're displaying Texas flag incorrectly. That's probably why your tree is killing itself.

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Noted and corrected

Clearly it is a Texas Red Oak & not a Spanish Oak.

You sell a smoker a while back in Georgetown area?

We have several. They are wimpy trees and there is always parts of them dying.

The good thing is the wood burns easily and we send the kids on kindling missions regularly.

In reply to Apache

Apache said:

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Mulch shouldn't touch trunk of the tree and you've got 4-6" of it piled up. This damages the bark and weakens the tree making it suceptable to pathogens like the Hypoxylon canker that your tree has. Probably won't make it much longer, first step is to tear out the bed around it, then call an arborist to see if it is savable.

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I've been eyeing a live oak of mine since we moved in. This was planted in January of 2021.

It's looked straggly ever since. I think it has hypoxylon canker. If so, id like to remove and replant now.

What are your suggestions on how far can I plant the new tree?

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What are your suggestions on how far can I plant the new tree?

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Hypoxylon Canker is endemic to Texas... it's virtually everywhere all the time in some amount, like fire ants, termites and mosquitos.

Normally your trees have enough natural strength & defenses to keep it at bay.

When you have severe freezes, followed by drought it can weaken a tree (though it is imperceptible generally). Add in poor tree care practices such as overtrimming, burying the trunk in mulch, damaging the trunk with maintenance equipment and throwing out weed & feed (Atrazine) on the lawn while the tree is actively growing and the tree really starts to struggle. This is when the H. Canker can really take advantage of the weakness and turn your pride & joy into firewood.

I guess what I'm saying is that in my opinion it really doesn't matter where you plant the tree as long as it is healthy & you take care of it since the H. Canker is everywhere anyway.

In reply to Apache Thanks. And makes sense on the canker. I've got an arborist coming out on Wednesday to look at it and my other bur oaks that have poor structure. They had branch dieback from that same historic freeze in '21.

Would you say this one is a goner?

This year and late last it finally started to take off with new growth and very little, if any branch die off.

In reply to tmaggies I did

After consulting an arborist, he told me it's a Schumard Oak and that the damage is sunscald and the tree will be fine.

I've always been told that you need to see a root flare at the bottom. If your tree looks like a post set into the ground, you need to rake soil/mulch back to expose the root flare.

I have been told a lot of stuff, some of it is even right.

In reply to BMach Thought I recognized your place……still enjoying the smoker!