Shumard Red Oak

[Bekah]

We have a Shumard Red Oak that is 20+ years old that we inherited about a year ago when we bought our house in Coppell. Half of the leaves have turned yellow and the tree is a lot less full than our other 3 Shumards. The only differences are that it is in the very back and was not getting as much water as the others for a while, (but we made sure that it has been getting water for the last 3-4 weeks) and it seems like there might be more soil and grass around the base of the sick tree (maybe we need to scrape this back?). We are planning to try the sick tree treatment and try and aerate the soil. Any other ideas? How long do Shumards live anyway? Does anyone know a good source for basic information and care of trees? We have 4 Shumard Red Oaks, 2 Pin Oaks, 1 Texana Red Oak, 1 Silver Leaf Maple, 2 Japanese Red Maples, and 1 Cedar Elm. Thanks a bunch!

[The Ent]

Howard's Plants for Texas and Trees for Texas have a lot of info on those trees.

Shumard Red Oaks are very long-lived. They don't like an overabundance of water in their soil, so if that one in in a place where the soil is a lot more moist, that would affect it. In your place, I'd go ahead and make sure the tree's root flare is well enough exposed, implement the Sick Tree Treatment (noted at top of forum) and make sure not to over-water the area where that tree grows. If necessary, improve the drainage there.