Oak Trees

I have an English Oak on a very overgrown property.

I am afraid it does not look very well.

Some of the branches are dead and broken, only one seems to have leaves.

My rough estimation is that it is 90 or 100 years old.

I see rot and I see evidence of boring insects.

What can I do to save the tree?

Any ideas? see more at My Blog

Oaks are the classic coppice tree, so you can and should hack away at it. Cleaning out the competition should give it a new lease on life. If any branches are noticeably colonized by fungi, you can remove those as the tree will do it on its own anyway.

There is really no point in giving it any fertilizer. A tree that old is going to have an immense mycorrhizal network established underground, and it can get the nutrients it needs without any help from you. Just make sure that there is plenty of leaf litter and biomass on the ground to be resupplying those nutrients.

Thanks John. This helps. What about the wood borers? It looks to me like they are eating into growing wood.

They are only eating the heart of the tree that is already dead wood.
If you want you can get some rock dust and apply it to the drip line of the tree.

In nature things die, so if that is the case do not be afraid to plant something it it's place.
There are plenty of nut and fruit trees that will grow in your location

Thanks S. Bengi.

Yes of course. I just like the idea of looking after the old trees that have been there a while.

Kind of special