Last couple years and seems worse this year noticing a lot of rock oak and some red oak dying, gypsy moth doesn’t seem that bad and I didn’t think the lantern fly bothered with oak?

I might add I’m in central Pa.

We're seeing a lot of Oak Wilt in Wisconsin

Gypsy moths catapillers defoliants the tree two years in a row and they don’t recover. Seeing it a lot in clear field and Clinton county

Oak wilt in Minnesota too.

Oak wilt. Tough to see a good tree die.

Lot's of trees stressed this year from the drought and heat. USFS say's if a tree you want seems to have died, give it 7 years of dorrmancy,.it might come back, unless the bark is sloughing off, then forget it.

Between wilt and Gypsy moths, I've lost well over 100 big oaks over last 2 to 4 years. I leave them stand dead now, they dry and the bark falls off. When the wind takes one down I cut it up for some great firewood. White oaks are doing ok so far. My upland forest understory has thickened up without the shade of the big oaks. I have seen more wild game with the lower browse.

I would guess we have lost well over 100 as well, not saying we don’t have any gypsy moth but it is nothing like the late 80’s, i believe the wilt fungus probably is to blame, tried keeping up cutting but looks like a losing battle this year.

Oak wilt will cause a rapid top down defoliation then death, it travels on beetle shells so not cutting/trimming oaks outside of frost months can help prevent the spread as the beetles are dormant. The wilt travels through the roots which is why you will sometimes see one side of a road dead and other doing fine.

White Oaks will survive Oak Wilt but Reds have a tough go.

Interesting.

Don't do this if the tree is in striking distance of anything of value, telling customers we now need a 150 ton crane to remove their trees and the telling them the cost that goes with it is pretty shocking to most.

This was the second summer with gypsy moths, and I mean bad. trees leafed twice both years but no rain really hurt this past summer. Now I notice around the yard, the maples have bore hole at the bases, about a foot off the ground.

Around here the govt treats for gypsy moths

Lots of dead red oaks and post oaks here

Had one in back yard, arborist said if we spent 2K and had some exceptional luck that it MIGHT survive. I had it cut down for $600, cut it in manageable trunks and it will be made into firewood when it cools.

I need to start flagging the dead ones soon so when all the leaves fall off of the others I can ID the ones to cut

The freeze we had Feb before last (got down to single digits and stayed for nearly a week) contributed to a lot of the damage.

The hard part w/ oak wilt is cutting only the infected trees doesn't solve the problem.

Between all the tree diseases, invasives, & unsustainable land devolopment, I would think lumber/paper mills must be nervous about their future

I would be more worried about weird government regulations than the problems you came up with. Still plenty of hardwoods where I live. Another reason I am not worried about your reasons is that the local sawmills don't pay very well. We can make more money hauling scrap metal than logs. LOL.

Another thing that concerns me is the whole environmental movement that makes loggers look "bad".

X2 on all above. What blows my mind is how red oak has become the least desirable wood around here.

Yes. Finding a logger for red oak is tough.

Those issues are part of why I'm planting white oak acorns to diversify my property.

Certainly a good idea to have a mixture.

Market trends change, right now seems all red colored hardwoods are out of style, red oak, Black Cherry and white wood is in style like hard and soft maple.. But it’s nothing new, back in the late 60’s it was the same with red oak and cherry. Then in the early 70’s you couldn’t give Hard Maple logs away, and today they are one of the hottest species out there .

Thank you for the update.

Next March, scratch the bark on a branch. If it’s green underneath, it’s alive. If it’s brown, it’s dead. Live trees have buds for spring.

It’s important to plant different trees species! I see a lot of dead ash trees in Minnesota.

Locust trees are doing well in Montana as are linden trees. There are several varieties of American Elm that are resistant to Dutch Elm disease and grow 4ft a year. Prairie Expedition is one variety.

a forester told me that Red variety of oaks thin themselves about every 100 years. there is also a canker that is affecting some of them, you'll see the bark come off in a small place and the sapwood is black, turns white when the tree dies. one thing for certain, you see the canker on the tree it will die! now the chestnut oaks are dying in numbers here. no canker, they are just dying.

About 10 years ago, something was taking out a bunch of white oaks very similar to what is happening now to red oaks.

Bur Oak blight works them fairly hard here, not as bad as wilt in the Reds though.

I hadn't heard of bur oak blight.

Interesting oak article. Very much science based. I'm not sure how accurate this Ohio article is to other states though

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/ne...round-ohio-fall-autumn-2022/69574443007/

Occasionally I see people cutting oak trees during oak wilt season and I shake my head wondering what they are thinking

The heart wood of Red Oak tends to rot out leaving a hollow tree, that's why loggers shy away.

Never heard of gypsy moth killing oak . Now ash trees! They are dead and falling by the thousands around here .

Several years ago the state started advertising that oak wilt season ends 7/15, but that is too early in my opinion. I was at a forestry seminar last month and the Federal forester happened to mention in his presentation that the guideline should be later than July 15th

Wasps are killing them down here or at least that’s what my logger cousin said

Our company has 4 seperate logging crews, we move to private sales April 15 to July 15 the private lands cut during the restricted time seem to be way ahead in regeneration the following couple years. Quite over the oak wilt, to far advanced. The young dense growth seems to be doing well. The oak were losing for the most part are old declining trees left from cuts 40 years ago.

They weaken old declining trees. The oaks were falling and dying in a few years anyway. Still not good. I have Ash regeneration in my bottom land. Most new Ash are 2 to 6 inch diameter. But I suspect the Emarald Ash borers will return....

Our true Red Oak are good quality. The Black Oak is often confused with Red Oak, it is often hollow, Black Oak is a scrubby brushy tree here, Red Oak are mostly clean with a few good logs before branches. Blacks make great firewood though.

I will second the market trend. Were letting paid for sales stand till market improves or we get close to cut deadline. Still paying north of $150 cord for red pine post wood.

Same here in Indiana. I noticed about 3 years ago.

With all the warm weather this winter, it could be an early start to the oak wilt season

Everyone blames oak wilt. Recently our oaks have been drought stressed with two lines chestnut borer

Not just oaks. Seems like almost all of our hardwoods are struggling with something or other.

I'm missing the dogwoods this time of year, anthracnose.
I'm seeing frass straws most everywhere from ambrosia beetle.
Shouldn't even have to mention our ash trees.

I used to have to answer, "What killed my tree?"
My answer was usually, "Yes."
The cause of death of a tree is more complicated than pinning it on one causal agent. Trees thrive when environmental factors are favorable. A tree under stress from a number of seasons of drought and/or flooding, or any number of other environmental detrimental factors can predispose that tree to death by the last causal agent, such as one season of gypsy moth or blight.
Did those gypsy moths or that blight kill that tree? Not in and of itself.

Guessing this is what is killing the red oak around here.

Around here the mature locusts are taking a beating.

I doubt that

Those big grubs are future June bugs

They get under rolls of hay down here, under rotten logs, just out in the yard in the dirt, etc

Our red oaks (and all trees) took a beating from the big freeze in 2022 and then dry conditions.

Whatever it is does not seem to affect sweetgum, elm, hackberry etc, basically anything I wouldn't care if it was wiped out thrives

Around here it’s a Stihl chainsaw. 22-30 inch bar

His top grub pic is a Japanese Beetle.

I noticed the other day the county forestry posted a reminder on their website that no dead oak can be cut down after April 1st due to oak wilt season. I didnt realize even dead ok can't be cut down. 'Makes me wonder if they really are only worried about the felling of freshly dead oaks. I can't imagine oak wilt would be in the stem of a tree that has been dead for 5 years.

Bacterial leaf scorch, xylem ( water transport). System in the red oak family, white oaks do not get it. It’s a long slow death. Leaders die off gradually. Pin oaks and reds around here have been dying off for the last 15 years. Drought accelerates the process.

It seems to me July 15th is too early to start cutting/trimming oak. I remember when the guideline used to say October 15th

Speaking of oak I planted a bunch of bur oak tonight. I have too many Red Oak and not enough members of the White Oak family on my property.

It always amazes me how some people cut or prune oaks during oak wilt season. I'm unsure if they are clueless or just don't care. Also, I think July 15th is too early to start cutting. Maybe small oak tsi work is ok, I'm not sure.

Some of the tree services are both clueless and don't care if the job is a dollar in their pockets.

We get knots on the branches caused by some sort of wasp eventually killing the tree

I've never heard of that.

Some people lost oaks in this weeks storms. That could result in them getting oak wilt.

One spring high wind event will negate and defeat any oak wilt cutting restriction. Our forester thinks and I, as timberland owner agree. Long term forest succession will happen despite our best efforts. Much of the land in my area was giant White pine, Hemlock, Redpine on uplands and the mix was in lower wetter bottomlands. My forest is littered with 150 year old cut and burnt pine stumps. And now littered with 150 year old dying oaks. Many old pine stumps look like trees were 4 foot across. The oaks filled a gap after mass deforestation Michigan experianced from mid 1850's till early 1900's. Seems our sandy gravely uplands are best suited to many evergreen species. The many pine species are thriving as the broadleafs are dying or crowded out by trees that grow best in our climate and soils. I have Hemlock and White pine along the river front that must have been tiny in the 1850's timber boom. they are now un sellable due to large size and difficulty to harvest.

Around here white pine can sometimes take over

I'm ok with the pines taking the land back. Before human intervention our area was as mother nature felt it should be.

I am responsible for killing my share !

I try to work them up on my place as they fall. Hate to see them lay and waste.

Yea me too, bought a Sawmill and make em into lumber then build hunting shacks with it.

I was wondering if the droughts last summer in Minnesota were taking its toll on the Red's this spring. I have about 8-10 in my yard that look completely dead or just have leaves on a limited number of branches. The trees with only a few branches of leaves have dead looking tops.

Cicada will start boring into the outer limbs very soon.

I wonder too what effect that might have had

I will send anybody who pays postage some red oak acorns soon as they drop this fall.

The end of next month is when I intend to start picking up white oak acorns. White oak, b/c they're less likely to get wilt.

The acorns appear to be on schedule. Some are already falling.

It could be this pest:

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/invasive-insect-is-threatening-minnesotas-oak-trees-dnr-says/

We get a wasp that causes a knot on the limb and the bad infestation will wipe out red oaks my cousin lost 10 acres to this

Maybe all the buckthorn is stealing some of the moisture from red oaks