It’s stunning to me that we live in a rainforest area but our plants still suffer from drought. I’m worried about 3 oaks that border our property (they are on park property). One of them has developed these marks on the leaves. Do you think that is a sign it is dying from drought? I have been trying to water them with my hose for the past couple of weeks but I don’t know if it’s enough
They are showing some sign of leaf scorch, yes: http://hortsense.cahnrs.wsu.edu/Public/FactsheetWeb.aspx?ProblemId=472 The advice there is water deeply but infrequently (presumably watering too often either doesn't get water to the roots, or it fosters fungal growth). Another possibility is Oak (Quercus spp.)-Anthracnose , but that is supposed to be closely tied to the leaf veins, and that doesn't seem to be the case here.
Thanks for the reply. I have never watered a tree before and I wasn’t watering deeply enough and was watering too frequently. Any idea how far out from the trunk I should be watering? Watering right at the base close to the trunk probably doesn’t make sense.
Read this: Help an oak tree tolerate severe drought That added, I wonder if this might be insect damage when the leaf was forming given that there are gaps in the leaf. Just the one tree out of the three though? And no other thing you can think of that might have affected it and not the others?
There are seemingly good suggestions in this article but I had to laugh to read this: If the soil under your oak 12 to 18 inches down is dry and crumbly, the oak is out of water. How on earth would you be able to determine the conditions below a few inches down? Also I find any root disturbance causes Garry Oaks to sucker.
Garry oak occurs within a precipitation range of something like 10 in. to 103 in. in nature - the main obvious limiting factor for it is shading and crowding by faster growing trees. A grove planted by itself on the Smith Prairie at the Pacific Rim Institute near Coupeville, WA has taken 20 years to grow approximately several yards high - because it never gets watered. But it does continue coming along, despite the moisture regime on the site.
