What can be done for an aging oak tree (water oak I think) 25-30Ft. tall, that has been struck by lightening twice about 28-30 yrs. ago and is still living. It has a split in the bark and on one side of the split, the bark appears to be letting go of the interior trunk. There are ants and other crawlers visible in the crevase of the tree and I am wondering will it hurt to spray orange oil into the dark crevase that the bugs are hiding and living in? Would they be helping or hurting the tree? It still has green foilage and has somehow done pretty well in the drought, however, when the wind blows small branches break off and fall and we are afraid that the end may be near. The county Agent said if it lived this long, there was not much we could do to improve it's quality of life. That it was doing pretty well on it's own. What suggestions could you offer for this tree?

Here are a couple of the links to Sick Tree Treatment articles in the Library here at DirtDoctor.com

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Sick-Tree-Treatment_vq4586.htm

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Sick-Tree-Treatment-Newsletter-2011_vq3864.htm

And the root flare, easily as important, is in several library entries. Be sure to take a look, but to get you started, here is a link to the root flare newsletter:

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Root-Flare-Newsletter_vq3597.htm