# My oak tree is dying. Help!



## Mantaray (Aug 29, 2004)

My 5 year old oak tree all of a sudden has its leaves turning yellow from top to bottom except for some tiny branches along the bottom part of the tree. My sprinklers water my front yard including the 2 oak trees every 2 days for about 20 minutes . My other oak tree is OK. The rest of the neighbors oak trees are green. I'm sure some of my neighbors are not watering as often as I do. 

What's going on with my dying oak tree? Could grubs or cut worms do this? I just can't believe the lack of water. However, in Spring time I put a pile of new soil on top of my oak trees, water may not get all the way down to the main roots. I just removed some soil to make a deep area around the trunk and gave it about 4 gallons of water. Any ideas is appreciated.


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## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

Remove the added soil back to the natural ground level and put a hose or sprinkler on it and soak it heavily. Create a "dam" on the low side of the tree 2 to 3' away and let the water run really slow overnight or even longer. It might be that the tree is located in a really hard piece of ground and the water is not getting down to the roots.


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## reelthreat (Jul 11, 2006)

Soil or mulch above the natural trunk/ground level will choke a tree. When the landscapers can and put mulch about 4" higher than the natural level my oak did the same. I pulled back the mulch and it greened right up.


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## Mantaray (Aug 29, 2004)

Thanks for the advice. I dug out some soil around the trunk and found lots of tiny roots protruding & sticking to the soil. Wonder if those were from the oak tree trying to suck up surface water from the sprinkler or trying to use the soil? Anyway, I made a round pocket to give it some breathing room and for water to get down quicker. Will see what happens next.


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## Danny O (Apr 14, 2010)

Deep root irrigation will help if lack of water is the issue. You can hire an arbor master or do it yourself w/ a 2' piece of rebar 1/4" diameter. Or, after removing the soil from the roots, make a moat around the tree (from the dripline), place a hose inside the moat on a slow drip overnight. Search deep root irrigation to do it properly if you decide to DIY!

As the other reply said, once roots appear on top of ground (which happens when the tree does not get enough water...roots come up looking for a water source) they should not be covered with soil, especially young trees. When you see older oaks (50+ years) w/ mulch and bedding plants it's b/c they are established and most likely rec'd adequate water during the critical years of growth.


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## gator (May 22, 2004)

Check this out.

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/2205/


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