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Brown Trees
updated: Jul 05, 2012, 7:30 AM

By Edhat Subscriber

There are scores of oak trees in the South Jameson, San Leandro, Las Entradas area that are severely browned and appear dead. It doesnt seem as though this is oak moth damage. Is there an arborist Edhatter who knows what is going on with these trees?

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 294205	2012-07-05 07:45 AM
The oakmoths maybe? They are EVERYWHERE right now, yuck.
COMMENT 294208	2012-07-05 07:51 AM
Yeah, it's happening to the oak in my neighbor's yard and my yard keeps getting covered with the worms, then the caterpillars (100s of them, it's so GROSS) and then the moths. The moths just started hatching and already we have another batch of worms coming down, this is the 3rd batch in the past few months and the tree looks really bad :(
COMMENT 294223	2012-07-05 08:23 AM
Thank all your environmentalist neighbors for allowing the Oak Moth to take hold as it is now on track to decimate the entire south coast Oak population.
COMMENT 294230P	2012-07-05 08:35 AM
The oak moth infestation happens regularly. I wonder if the relative lack of rain this year has something to do with the intensity of it this year.
COMMENT 294231	2012-07-05 08:35 AM
Thanks 223 for making us all a little dumber.
COMMENT 294243	2012-07-05 09:00 AM
Put out some bird seed to attract finches and sparrows to diminish worm abundances. Not too much, just enough occasionally to keep them coming back as visitors Also, Two deep waterings a week for Two weeks if the trees are completely denuded of foliage.
MTNDRIVER	2012-07-05 09:00 AM
Oak moth caterpillars ("worms") eat leaves, they don't make them look brown. That sounds like a disease. Hope it is not sudden oak death, which there was a great deal of concern about some years ago, though it ended up not being a problem in our area (Bay Area and Northern California still suffering from it, many trees dying).
COMMENT 294266	2012-07-05 09:33 AM
243, two deep waterings a week in summer will kill a California Live Oak. They need zero water in the summer, that's why they do well here.
COMMENT 294270	2012-07-05 09:38 AM
266 is right, don't forget Not to water oaks in the summer.
COMMENT 294283	2012-07-05 09:45 AM
I would venture a guess that the oak moth is attracted to trees that are already stressed and/or diseased. Sudden Oak Death causes sap to bleed from the bark of the trunk. Sudden Oak Death is from an exotic pathogen that hasn't been id'd but was first discovered in California (between Big Sur and Humboldt) and is believed to have been introduced by nursery stock or was already present and unidentified (Wikipedia). I would venture another guess that it could be from illegal industrial scaled forest pot growing and its extensive use of pesticides that have created new mutant pathogens.
COMMENT 294328P	2012-07-05 10:44 AM
Agree with others NOT to water oaks. Also, 243, finches and sparrows will be attracted to birdseed but their beaks are adapted to eat seeds, not caterpillars. Warblers and wrens love oakworms and should be able to find them on their own.
COMMENT 294335	2012-07-05 10:56 AM
The worms cause the oaks to get a disease that kills them off. Even after erradicated, it's often too late. We had a bad case that quickly spread and lost three trees - all completely browned when they were at their worst. I know my aunt has some in her oak tree as well - I am sure she will be very saddened when it dies. It has nothing to do with watering or anything like that. We had a specialist come out and that's how we found out. Very sad.
COMMENT 294362	2012-07-05 11:49 AM
Has Sudden Oak Death in the SB area been ruled out?
COMMENT 294377	2012-07-05 12:26 PM
It takes patience, but there is a cycle and the trees usually recover. But what doesn't recover is the disgraceful road surface of South Jameson Lane from Eucalyptus Lane to Posilipo Lane. Why can't the County take care of this deplorable situation?
COMMENT 294403	2012-07-05 01:33 PM
377 - attempted hijacking!
COMMENT 294435	2012-07-05 03:06 PM
Sudden Oak Death is restricted to the mixed evergreen forests, and has not been found in the oak chaparrel anywhere south of Big Sur. 335 - please provide more information or a reference for "worms causing oaks to get a disease that kills them off".
COMMENT 294575	2012-07-06 06:54 AM
@MTNDRIVER When the worms are still small they cannot eat the whole leaf. They eat only the outside layer so the rest turns brown.
GBOB	2012-07-06 08:47 AM
The moths and oaks have co-existed for thousands of years. Infestations move from grove to grove, and seldom hit the same grove twice in the same cycle. Unless the trees are stressed for some other reason (extended drought) they will recover. Oak moths attack ALL oaks, including the Southern Live Oak and Cork Oak. While you MIGHT get away with watering a Southern Live Oak during the summer, it is VERY risky to water any native Oak, or a Cork Oak. Watering in summer can trigger Oak Root Fungus, which WILL kill your tree.
FLICKA	2012-07-06 09:50 AM
As for watering, many oaks are killed because people plant flowers under them that need water, kills the oak. Oaks are native here and survive on the rain cycle watering them. We are a semi-arid area and watering natives is plain wrong.
ARTEMISIA	2012-07-06 05:56 PM
Flicka, you may be onto something. I'll bet there are water-demanding lawns nearby, certain death to native oak trees.
COMMENT 294930	2012-07-06 06:39 PM
@ 294223 Yes, and white is black and black is white.

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