I have two trees in my front year that are not looking great. One of them is a live oak. The tree Divides around 4 feet up. The one side looks great. The other side has about 30% of its leaves. It looks like there is something growing on the branches. This same stuff is growing on a flowery tree by house. Any idea what this is and if it's the reason my trees are dying?

Can you post a pic of the trunk including the ground?

Looks similar to problem I had and it was borers. No new growth on limb ends and limbs slowly die one at a time and get very sparse. If you can cut a dead limb or one that is looking bad, look for a hole like a drinking straw. That would be borers for sure.

I treated with a ground drench at the base after digging a small trench around the whole tree. Sorry can't recall exactly what I used, but it was similar to termite control, got it at producers coop (Bryan). It solved the problem, tree was almost a goner, cut all dead limbs out and it started putting out new growth and recovered nicely.

Here are some pics of oak

Here is other tree by house (have no idea if name).

I don't see the natural root flare of the trunk. I see the tree is in a mulch bed, but sometimes builders bury the root flare when grading the site. It will take years sometimes for the tree to show any ill effects. But eventually the buried bark area will rot and begin choking the tree. Bark cannot turn to roots. I did a quick Google searh and found this guy, seems to be inline with my experience. Worth checking out.



Ultimately unless you are attached, probably better to replace with another tree. I personally like Monterrey Oak for a pure shade tree, or a pecan tree.

Smaller tree possibly a Redbud?

Believe it is a red bud.


So that moss stuff growing on it doesn't hurt it?

I'm not an expert on the moss, but in my experience it only gets that bad when the tree is not healthy to begin with.

Definitely +1 on the root flare. It's a very common issue. I had two oaks at our last house air bladed to expose the flare and it made a huge difference. Also I'm guessing you've got an irrigation system that runs fairly frequently. The combination of the root flare not being exposed and excess moisture will eventually kill the tree.

Did some quick research and the green stuff (lichen) won't kill the tree. It's doing well because the foliage cover is bad and suns promotes lichen growth.

Live oaks are strange. In my experience, they can withstand the backfilling against the trunk better than most trees. Likenthenposter said above, the lichen is growing because of the excessive sunlight. Covering the root flare and changing the the environment of a native tree (irrigation, grading, mulching, fertilizing or lack of) are the ones that stress a tree the most. In a dry environment, a native tree that suddenly gets a lot of water funneled to its base will stress out and will be susceptible to disease. You can love a tree to death. The most common killer of native trees in new landscapes is overwintering.

I looked at that pic again. It might be Oak Wilt.