Red Oak Leaves

My Red Oak is dropping individual leaves, not loads, but enough to partially cover the sidewalk & driveway. It seems kind of odd, maybe normal, I just don't recall it doing this in previous years. Curious if anyone else's Red Oak is dropping leaves too. This old tree sure provides alot of shade so I'd hate to lose it.

My first question normally would be concerning water. But I would have thought this year it would be okay even if you'd never turned your sprinklers on.

I know. Maybe it drowned? They're releasing @ the stem end, no sign of insect cuts. The tree that keeps giving leaves!

I have 2 large Red Oaks and they are not dropping leaves.

Mine are dropping leaves like yours. No insect cuts, just clean break like a budding leaf pushed the old one out. I think its because of the substantial rain we’ve had. I notice a lot of new growth on the tips of my oak. It’s 50+ years old.

Could also be fallout from the freeze. An article I read (think it was from A&M) said it could take several years for the oaks to completely overcome the stress from the cold weather.

I have one and it looks good

Looking @ mine & see new growth also. Mine's pretty old too, I think it's probably ok.

Mine has been dropping leaves for a while now, a few dead ones now. but the tree looks good .

Are the leaves turning a color before they drop, yellow, or are they brown ? Or are they dropping green leaves?

They were green. The dropping has stopped compared to what was occuring back in June.

I have a red oak and a pin oak in the back yard. Neither are dropping leaves yet, but boy howdy, there are acorns aplenty falling.

My red oak is dropping leaves like you mentioned but you cannot tell by how full the tree still is. This tree is a marcescent meaning that most of the leaves turn brown and stay on the tree until spring. It is also dropping acorns by the hundreds.

the only thing that my neighbors tree provides me is leaves. I will be picking them up until the end of February.

Free mulch.

They are the worse. They have little claws that grap ahold of my driveway and don't blow easily. I have 2 large live oaks and 2 medium ones. The largest one furthest from the house has more acorns then I have ever seen and the others none. I think the freeze affected the live oaks more then others. My pecans have been dropping leaves for a month. I think it was the dry weather in August. Skins on the nuts turned black and they started dropping. I was looking for a good crop of pecans after a successful squirrel jihad.

I've stayed off this thread, but been following it. For the record I hate trees. They would be the first thing I would cut down if I bought a house in a neighborhood today. That said have 4 Crepe Myrtles but don't consider them "trees" per say and will cut them down if they give me any problem that makes me mad.

But I digress. Y'all stress out way too much over trees. If anything trees have it figured out. Unless you a have a POS like a hackberry, arizona ash, or oak wilt, bores, etc... Your tree is going to be fine. Don't cover the trunk base up with your pretty little ring flower bed that the wife want's to do with annuals and choke the tree. Expose the root flare. So many trees are misplanted now it's insane. Trees will take care of themselves when planted properly. Not much to worry about.

Final words. Cut the problem tree out and grow turf like a real man.

That's hurtful. Trees have feelings too.

Lol. I didn't mean to come off sounding like a ahole, but I did. How's your tree looking now since you posted?

It recovered from the leaf drop early on & doing its normal routine. Acorns falling like hailstones & a bag of leaves a week.

Sorry Flip. I have to go on a another rant. People think they can grow turf under trees, no big deal with St Aug or some Zoy. I've yet to see viable studies that can. Bob Davis is like 3-4 years on Zoysia? I'd like to see picks of his lawn. It's not impossible

I cannot grow squat but oak seedlings under mine. St. Augustine tries but just can't. Seriously thinking rock.

This is my last season for fighting leaves in the pool all fall and winter, thank goodness. After 20 years of it, I'm burnt. And the acorns, too. We just put black mulch in all of the flower beds for pics to be taken tomorrow, and every darned acorn that has fallen on the black mulch looks like a bright shining light. I'm not a fan of the black mulch, just trying to abide by suggestions from realtor....

You need to monitor and see how much sunlight you're getting. If your getting 5ish you can grow St. Aug. If not go with rock like you mention or shade loving ground covers. If you're getting 5+ and not growing you need to get a soil test. Denton is the one place in NTX that I have seen soil test results that were some of the best I've ever seen and then some of the worst likes it's in my area. Denton seems to have a real fine line. If you throw done any grass and don't properly fertilize and maintain it, it's not going to do well for the most part. But sun is key. If you're getting 5+ hours and want to grow grass you easily can and we can talk about it.

I do like the Zoysia that Jman and company put in for us in the front of the house. It has done really well. The freeze of this last Feb. did not hurt it one bit. It is thick and doesn't grow as fast as St. Augustine. The neighbors on the left and right of me have St. Augustine and it is creeping in. I'm ok with that. I will be glad to see every bit of Bermuda gone. It was the most sickly of grass and most cantankerous. This Zoysia works really well under the live oak.
Here are some pics from August 2021. I should add that Danny Sullivan (Arborist) and his crew prune, thin and raise the canopies of all of our trees and this helps keep the trees and the grass underneath healthy

That looks great Bob! I love that cleaned up canopy.

Thanks, I love the trees but I really hate the acorns. I have a guy coming tomorrow to give me an estimate to rake em, vacuum or sweep em gone. My wife and I raked them last year and I had a ton of those black contractor bags full of acorns that I had to put out a few at at time for months for the trash crews. What a beating. There are pull behind sweepers that pull behind riding mowers Agri-Fab and a few others but still you have to dump them then put in bags. I've got a Pin oak and Red oak in the back yard too. Can't rake them myself this year, I tore a medial meniscus in my left knee a few weeks ago, surgery is this coming Thursday.