Aged Canyon Live Oak who has seen bad days…

[jsdwi]

Due to recent fires in SoCal I have been surveying my property in the Sierra Nevada’s to prepare for growing season.

I stumbled upon this old Canyon Live Oak that was cut back many years ago and even has burn damage. I believe there was a small fire where it is located over 5 years ago before I purchased it. I decided to pull it since another Live Oak is towering over it now.

It has seen tough times and survived so I’m hoping it will survive this as well. Will be moving it to a shaded spot for the next few months. If there is any advice that you can give to increase the probability of survival, I would love to hear it! Thank you.

 

[Gabler]

Shade is good. Don't let it freeze. Be very careful about overwatering and underwatering. Soggy soil will suffocate the roots, and dry soil will quickly dehydrate the tree, since its roots have been injured. The best soil to pot it into for recovery is 100% pumice. The second best is perlite, which is basically artificial pumice. Perlite's only disadvantage is its weight. It's too light. A layer of gravel or something over the top can easily fix that problem.

 

[Gabler]

Oh, and oaks like acid fertilizer, especially in inorganic potting media, which tends to be slightly alkaline, but wait to fertilize until it has grown and "hardened off" a new flush of leaves.

 

[jsdwi]

Shade is good. Don't let it freeze. Be very careful about overwatering and underwatering. Soggy soil will suffocate the roots, and dry soil will quickly dehydrate the tree, since its roots have been injured. The best soil to pot it into for recovery is 100% pumice. The second best is perlite, which is basically artificial pumice. Perlite's only disadvantage is its weight. It's too light. A layer of gravel or something over the top can easily fix that problem.

Great advice. Thank you. I’ve wrapped with the burlap too help with freezing. Right now it is about 70% pumice and 30% mixture of peat/potting soil. I have perlite, but as you said, it is too light and I do not use it for heavier trees.

Watering is going to be the trickiest part because I am away often, but shouldn’t be a problem during cooler months.

Thanks!

 

[BrianBay9]

Just don't mess with it this year, and maybe next. Let the roots recover and don't do any work until it shows strong growth.