Tree help

[anodyne]

treedimensional and others

First, what kind of tree do I have? Second, are the red spots on the limb a disease? If so, do you know what kind?

[treedimensional]

It's a red oak. How big is it, and do you have an acorn, by any chance?

[anodyne]

May 3, 2015 12:24:56 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

It's a red oak. How big is it, and do you have an acorn, by any chance?

It is about 15-20 feet tall.  I looked and there are no new acorns on it.  A few caps from last year that had not fallen.

[treedimensional]

Ok. The branch you have there, was that a living or dead branch? Did you cut it off of the tree, was it on the ground already? If you cut it from the tree, where was it positioned (bottom branch, top of the tree, or somewhere in the middle)? And finally, how does the foliage look overall?

[anodyne]

treedimensional

it was dead, cut off. We cut multiple dead branches and all of them had the spots. They were bottom branches, about 6-8 feet off the ground. It is a street tree so we have pruned lower branches over the years that were too low and in the way of parked cars. There are other branches that don't have leaves higher up that we could not get to with our ladder. The leaves themselves look like the one above, but the branches are not full of leaves,

[anodyne]

It's kind of hard to see with the other trees behind it.

[treedimensional]

The spotty appearance is caused by decay, but it is a type of decay of dead wood, not live wood. It didn't kill that limb. The decay happened because the limb was dead.
The tree has poor structure for an oak, and the canopy is somewhat sparse. The buttress also looks questionable; there is no flare and the tree hasn't developed good taper. The trunk looks like it has suffered multiple mechanical wounds (lawnmower/string trimmer) and has some decay.
Did you plant it, or do you know if it was a container-grown tree?

[anodyne]

May 5, 2015 9:58:01 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

The spotty appearance is caused by decay, but it is a type of decay of dead wood, not live wood. It didn't kill that limb. The decay happened because the limb was dead.
The tree has poor structure for an oak, and the canopy is somewhat sparse. The buttress also looks questionable; there is no flare and the tree hasn't developed good taper. The trunk looks like it has suffered multiple mechanical wounds (lawnmower/string trimmer) and has some decay.
Did you plant it, or do you know if it was a container-grown tree?

We did not plant it.  The city typically plants the trees and this was planted before we purchased the house.  Our neighborhood was hit pretty hard by a windstorm in 2006 which took out about half the trees.  I would guess this was planted around that time. 

Is there anything we can do to nurse it back to health?

[treedimensional]

May 5, 2015 11:56:26 GMT -5 anodyne said:

May 5, 2015 9:58:01 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

The spotty appearance is caused by decay, but it is a type of decay of dead wood, not live wood. It didn't kill that limb. The decay happened because the limb was dead.
The tree has poor structure for an oak, and the canopy is somewhat sparse. The buttress also looks questionable; there is no flare and the tree hasn't developed good taper. The trunk looks like it has suffered multiple mechanical wounds (lawnmower/string trimmer) and has some decay.
Did you plant it, or do you know if it was a container-grown tree?

We did not plant it.  The city typically plants the trees and this was planted before we purchased the house.  Our neighborhood was hit pretty hard by a windstorm in 2006 which took out about half the trees.  I would guess this was planted around that time. 

Is there anything we can do to nurse it back to health?

First, remove the grass around the base of the tree. In as wide an area as you can manage. Dig it up, rip it out. Get out there in the evening with a glass of wine and get it done. And take more pictures around the buttress. I want to know what you find. 

[treedimensional]

Seriously, I can't get over the shape of that tree. It does not look anything like an oak. It looks like a mangey old ash.