TIL a local park's oaks are showing signs of bacterial leaf scorch

I was walking through Riverside Park and saw multiple oak trees with browned edges on the leaves. This looks like bacterial leaf scorch, which spreads fast. Get your trees checked if you see similar symptoms.

3 comments

3 Comments

faiths121mo ago

Read a piece about this last year, it spreads through the roots when trees are close together. Once it gets into a stand of oaks, it's pretty much a death sentence for them over a few years. The article stressed that you need a lab test to be sure, because other things like drought or fungus can look the same. They said there's no real cure, just taking out the infected trees to slow it down. It's a shame because big oaks take so long to grow. You should definitely call an arborist if your trees look sick.

phoenixd971mo ago

Ugh, that's so brutal to hear. Makes me feel bad about the sapling I accidentally killed last year by forgetting to water it for, like, a month. I took out a whole future giant oak with my neglect, while this thing takes out healthy ones just for standing nearby. Definitely listen to the lab test advice, I mean, you don't wanna chop down a tree that's just thirsty.

rileybarnes16d ago

But is it really that bad every time? I've seen plenty of oak trees look sick from a dry summer or a bad bug year, then bounce back the next spring. Sometimes these warnings feel over the top, like we're told to panic and cut things down right away. Maybe some stands can fight it off, or it just moves slower than they say. I'd want to see it with my own eyes before I believed one fungus could wipe out a whole group of mature trees.