Live oaks around here are looking terrible. Mine is a huge one and just looks bad.

Same, I think they will make it though, if not, I’m going to spend a bundle having them taken out and I have no idea how you can replace them

Mine is solid brown too. Looked yesterday at the stems and it's starting to put on new growth. Should be pushing of the dead leaves and rebound just fine.

Dang, wife likes em, I don’t

A note from the Texas A&M Forest Service:

East Texas Now Noticing Freeze Damage on Forest Trees

Many may just now be noticing signs of freeze damage to forest trees and are worried that their trees may have died from the recent severe weather.

The most common sign is the turning of needles and leaves from a dark green to a strange reddish-gray color. Other than the strange color, the crowns of these trees seem to be fully intact and show minimal breakage from ice loads. Usually we have physical damage to our trees from heavy ice loads during these winter storms, but this was a different type of event. Only rarely, in confined areas, do we see mechanical breakage and/or severe bending of forest trees.

So what is happening?
The extreme cold triggered a normal physiological response in the trees. Needles and leaves of trees showing signs of freeze damage were impaired likely from the formation of ice crystals which formed inside the leaf cells causing the cells walls to rupture. However, native trees are adapted to this and responded by shutting off (abscising) leaves (needles) that were no longer functioning causing a discoloration of leaves. Fortunately, trees have the ability to leaf out again when the initial growth is damaged or destroyed.

Why are some trees showing signs while others are not?
Not all trees species are equal when it comes to freeze tolerance. Some species can tolerate extreme cold better than other species. With pine species, Longleaf pine and slash pine seems to have less tolerance for freeze than loblolly pine. Shortleaf pine, as you might expect, is more resistant to freezing temperatures and seems to be much less affected than the other pine species. In Texas, these species tend to grow intermixed together, so many may notice a difference in the color of crown from one pine tree to the next because of the species variety.

In addition, trees along the forest edge and/or those trees that are very tall and taller than surrounding trees, with their crowns fully exposed, may also experience freeze damage to a greater extent than those trees with crowns somewhat protected by other trees.


Will the tree survive?
This is another example of how it pays to proactively manage forest to promote health and resiliency, because survival of the freeze damaged trees greatly depends upon the initial health of the tree. There will likely be some losses, but if the tree was relatively healthy before the freeze incident, then it should have enough available, stored carbohydrates (food) to set new buds and form new leaves (needles) this spring. If the tree was unhealthy prior to the event then it may not be able to recover from this event or might be the target of insects and disease later this year. As always, we worry about trees becoming so stressed from these events that they are loss to insects. Luckily, the freeze also severely impacted and reduced insect populations which should provide a period of respite from damaging insects and time to for the tree to recover leaves and needles.

The Bottom Line
At this point, don’t panic. Although there will be some losses, primarily to those trees that were under stress prior to the winter storm, we will all have to wait and see what will happen this spring. Damage trees may have only suffered a temporary setback. Healthy trees should produce additional growth within a few weeks.

Freeze damaged trees near residences & buildings
If you are a homeowner with a freeze damaged tree near a residence and/or building on your property, you may wish to contact a certified Arborist for a closer inspection. An arborist is a professional tree care individual that is certified by the International Society of Arboriculture. Arborists will assess whether a tree poses a safety hazard, needs corrective pruning, and/or the overall health of the tree. For more information, visit the following websites:

https://www.treesaregood.org/portals/0/docs/treecare/hire_arborist.pdf

https://texasforestinfo.tamu.edu/MyLandManagementConnector/

https://www.treesaregood.org/findanarborist/findanarborist

Here's more info from an ole fisherman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wTfyfJkwWs

My live oaks are molting

Mine on north side have lost almost all their leaves. I have one that I would not mind losing. It is too close to the house. Ex wanted it there so she could have a circular drive. It would make a good pile of firewood. I do not want to lose the ones in my backyard. They shade my patio. The fire ants are sure enjoying the warm up.

Jonquils and daffodils that were up are now blooming . The 30 year old azaleas under the oaks look dead . Hope they make it .

I have a couple of huge ones in my backyard that I planted. They're 28 years old now. It's been raining leaves non-stop for a week and it's still going. It's going to be a big job to clean this up. I sure hope they make it. I'm scared to think what it might cost to take them out if we end up having to do that.

Same here, we have one in the front yard. On two days this week, we raked up over 10 contractor bags of live oak leaves.

I think it should be fine. I remember the ice/sleet storm from a few years ago, the limbs and leaves were encapsulated in ice. The limbs became so heavy, several of them snapped and I had to cut them off. But the tree survived. I really don't think we were cold long enough to cause permanent damage to live oaks.

I had a couple hundred red, white, and yellow onions in the ground since December. They looked dead and rotten after the snow melted. Today, almost all of them have regrown to about what they were before the deep freeze.

My live oak trees have lost all of their leaves but are budding out nicely. Might be a little thin leaf wise but appear to be just fine.

Live oaks raining leaves is an understatement, my gawd

Don't get the chainsaws out just yet:

https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/content/article.aspx?id=31467