My 30 gallon Willow Oak, purchased from Barber Nursery, was planted in October 2015.
It leafed out on April 8th 2016 and produced a good crop of leaves. Unfortunately the initial leaves became severely infected with a fungus, possibly "oak-leaf-blister", which twisted and contorted the leaves. It subsequently put out more growth and these new leaves were mostly devoid of fungus and well-formed. On March 26th 2017, the Willow Oak was just starting to leaf out. The new leaves were delicate, narrow, and curly. On April 1st 2017, the whole tree was covered in narrow curly leaves. Unlike the previous year, no sign of oak-leaf-blister, possibly because I sprayed with Daconil just before bud-break.
In August 2017, the Willow Oak had taken a turn for the worst. During June and July all the leaves became rusty and dull brownish green. By August, most of the upper leaves had fallen off, and there were new pale green shoots at the tips of the branches. Not sure what this disease could be, but am guessing mites. I sprayed with Sevin in early August but I think I was too late. The new shoots stayed pale green instead of turning darker, so this tree did not look good at all in 2017!
On April 22nd 2018, the Willow Oak had leafed out - leaves were green - I had sprayed with Sevin to try to prevent the rust which crippled the tree the previous year - in case the rust was caused by mites. Unfortunately in 2018 and in 2019, the tree suffered from rust. The summer of 2019 was particularly bad, with most of the leaves being lost during August. I didn't spray with Sevin in 2019 because they changed their active ingredient and it is no longer effective against rust mites.
The tree is doing appallingly in 2020 - by June 2020 there were hardly any leaves and the remaining leaves were yellow and diseased. This is despite plenty of fertilizer, watering, and application of Daconil fungicide at bud-break. Inspection of the leaves revealed no sign of mite infestation. I purchased a healthy looking 15 gallon specimen in late July from Buchanan's Nursery - planting was delayed due to heavy rain filling the hole I dug with water. Finally planted it on August 8th after scooping all the water out of the hole. In 2021, Willow Oak #1 is hopeless. Despite plenty of fertilizer, it only produced a few chlorotic rusty leaves - that tree will have to go. Willow Oak #2 has some nice yellow fall color in November 2021.
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Willow Oak (July 2018)
Willow Oak (July 2017)
Willow Oak (July 2016)
Willow Oak (October 2015)
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