Noticed something odd about an oak's leaves last week

I was looking at an oak tree for a home owner. The leaves were curling up and looked kind of faded. From what I've seen, this usually means the tree is really thirsty. I told them to give it a slow, deep soak at the base. They did that, and the tree started looking better pretty fast. It's a good way to catch water stress before it gets bad. Keep an eye out for those leaf changes.

4 comments

4 Comments

matthew3941mo ago

But what if the leaves are curling for a different reason? I've seen trees with similar looks from pests or disease, not just lack of water. Sometimes it's a soil issue, like poor drainage, that makes watering worse. Watering might help short term, but if the root cause is different, the problem could come back. It's not always as simple as just giving them more water.

wyatt_hernandez141mo ago

Oh man, you're totally right. I used to just water everything when leaves curled, but seeing pests mess up my neighbor's tree made me rethink that. Now I check for other stuff first.

the_evan1mo ago

Question if it's ALWAYS thirst. @wyatt_hernandez14 said pests can make leaves curl too.

phoenixw1116d ago

Tell me about it, I've been the guy who just hoses down a curled leaf before. @the_evan makes a solid point that it's not always a water problem. I learned the hard way that sometimes you're just giving bugs a nice drink.

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