How to Manage Stress for Your Senior Oaks

Senior Oak trees are old, aging, and in many cases stressed trees. Young trees are vigorous and can adjust to change. Stressed and dying senior trees fail to adjust to change. Changes include adding irrigation or landscape at base of old trees. Construction activities such as soil cuts, soil fills, and driving heavy equipment (soil compaction) over the trees’ sensitive root zone area, all can kill old trees. The Death phase or Senescence is the slow death period for aging live oak trees. Old oak trees in senescence phase can idle along for hundreds of years.

Visual clues of senescence include:

1. Upper canopy dieback

2. Large, heavy, limb failures

3. Aging oaks stop growing taller and begin growing a wider base.

Aging oaks like aging people are less flexible, not able to bend and come back, and are more brittle. Old oaks reach the limits of their site resources then begin to idle and decline. Excessive pruning of old oak trees can kill the tree. Old oaks can live for centuries. The key to preserving Senior trees is to connect the tree to an ecological site that can sustain it. A tree is only as good as the site it is growing on.

Treatments for Senior Oaks

• Expanding the trees’ resource space will improve health. 

• Mulch, go wide, 1 to 2” layer of composted hardwood mulch (derived from local hardwood trees).

• Improve soil health (de-compact and improve drainage).

• Apply continuous small doses of elements (less nitrogen) more P, K, Ca, Mg. Use organics ( liquid compost, compost teas etc.)

to restore soil biology. 

• Remove interference (remove turf, vines, competing canopy).

• Prune to reduce mass (prune exterior canopy only, the middle of the tree is the "No Pruning" zone).

• Support mass and control movement via cable, brace, guy, and support.

• Prevent insect and disease attacks (pest management).

• Lightning kills! Protect old oak trees from lightning via installation of a lightning protection system.

• Have the senior oaks inspected annually by a qualified tree professional (ISA Certified Arborist). 

For more information, expertise, and tree services consult Bob's Tree Preservation at bobstree.com or by calling (888) 620-TREE (8733).