Common Oak trees in our area:

 

 

Bur Oak:

 

• Deciduous tree, 70-80 ft (21-24 m) height, similar or greater spread, developing into an oval form with a massive trunk and stout branches.  Bark dark gray to gray-brown, becoming deep ridged and furrowed.  Leaves alternate, simple, 10-25 cm long, about half as wide, obovate to oblong-obovate, generally cuneate base, shape variable, often with a broadly expanded toothed portion above 2 deep notches and a lower portion with a few short, rounded lobes, other leaves with 7-9 deep lobes (resembling white oak), upper surface glossy green, pale and hairy below.  Autumn color yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-brown. Fruit (acorn) solitary, 2-4 cm long, enclosed more than half by a deep cap which is conspicuously fringed.

 

• Sun, difficult to transplants.  Very adaptable to various soil conditions and fairly tolerant of urban conditions.

 

• Hardy to USDA Zone 3      Native range from Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, west to Manitoba and Texas.

 

 

Common problems with Oak trees in our area:

 

 

Insects:

 

Aphids	Cynipid Galls	Leafminers
Aphids feed by sucking up plant juices through a food channel in their beaks. At the same time, they inject saliva into the host. Light infestations are usually not harmful to plants, but higher infestations may result in leaf curl, wilting, stunting of shoot growth, and delay in production of flowers and fruit, as well as a general decline in plant vigor. Some aphids are also important vectors of plant diseases, transmitting pathogens in the feeding process. A sticky glaze of honeydew may collect on lower leaves, outdoor furniture, cars, and other objects below aphid feeding sites. Honeydew coated objects soon become covered by one or more brown fungi known as sooty molds. Crusts of sooty mold are unsightly on man-made objects, and they can interfere with photosynthesis in leaves. MORE INFO	Two kinds of galls are produced by this wasp. The most notable are produced by the asexual generation that are spherical, corky, 1/8 to 1 inch in diameter and appear on twigs and branches of live oak in late summer and early fall. When first formed, they are pink to pinkish brown and the yellow-green tissue inside is moist and soft. Although adult wasps are rarely seen, the galls produced on live oak trees around developing stages are noticeable when numerous and can disfigure trees; medically harmless.   MORE INFO	Leafminers are usually the larvae of flies, moths, or beetles that feed or “mine” between the upper and lower epidermal leaf surfaces. The larvae tunnel through the leaf creating a narrow, whitish colored serpentine (winding) mine (Figure 1) or blotch (blister) (Figure 2) type mine. The tunnel is clear, except for the trail of black fecal material left behind as larvae feed. Female flies puncture or "stipple" leaves with their ovipositors to lay eggs in the leaf tissue or to feed on sap. Many ornamental plants are attacked by leafminers, but azalea, bougainvillaea, ixora, hollies, chrysanthemum, lantana, oak, and boxwood are some of the preferred hosts. MORE INFO
TREATMENT	TREATMENT	TREATMENT	TREATMENT

 

 

Diseases:

 

Wetwood (slime flux)
Bacterial wetwood, also called slime flux, is a major bole rot of trunk and branches of trees. Slime flux has been attributed to bacterial infection in the inner sapwood and outer heartwood area of the tree. A tree with slime flux is water-soaked and "weeps" from visible wounds and even from healthy looking bark. The "weeping" may be a good thing as it is having a slow, natural draining effect on a bacterium that needs a dark, damp environment. A tree with this bole rot is trying its best to compartmentalize the damage. MORE INFO
TREATMENT	TREATMENT	TREATMENT	TREATMENT