Native Plants
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Wednesday - July 25, 2007
From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Diseases and Disorders
Title: Oak diseases as a result of wet, cool weather
Answered by: Damon Waitt
QUESTION:
The mature live oak trees in our back yard have been dropping leaves just like they do in March, but this is July! Small to medium spots on the leaves turn brown before they drop. The veins of the leaves are still green. The trees are growing on a well-drained slope in shallow soil over limestone here in the hill country just west of Austin. Asiatic jasmine grows under some, but not all, of the trees. This has never happened in the past 13 years. Does it have to do with the heavy rainfall? Will they survive? Do we need an arborist consult?ANSWER:
It is our good fortune that James Houser, the Texas Forest Service Oak Wilt Technical Coordinator, recently addressed this question on the texasoakwilt.org website. You can click here to view a pdf version of his article with images.More Diseases and Disorders Questions
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Should I use wound paint when pruning my live oak tree?
February 04, 2010 - When trimming live oak branches, is it best to coat the wound on the tree? I have been doing this but have recently heard that it can actually be bad for the tree.
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Dying non-native St. Augustine grass from Austin
May 02, 2013 - Although we all know St. Augustine grass is not a good thing, I am stuck with it and am trying to save areas that appear to have take-all fungus. I have done much reading online and have tried peat m...
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Live oaks dropping brown leaves
August 02, 2014 - We have three live oaks and one of them has been dropping quite a few brown leaves over the past two weeks. I looked at pictures of trees with oak wilt and ours do not look like the pictures. I als...
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Need help diagnosing a problem with Bur Oak in Plano, TX
April 28, 2010 - I planted a bur oak 8 or 9 years ago. It has grown beautifully until this year. When opening, the leaves are very small (a couple inches) and there are lots of seeds (catkins?). I would hate to los...
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