Are my oaks dead?

[Potsofgreen]

Hello guys and gals new to the site but I’ve been lurking around on various posts for years just doing research and learning

I’ve been into the hobby for years but this past year fully dived in with multiple trees and goals.

I recently was able to acquire some coast live oaks (I live in SoCal) for free I had to dig them out and they needed to go that day I didn’t have time to slowly cut back roots and to take my time or anything the guy wanted them gone, I got 5 with the biggest having a trunk about as thick as a baseball bat.

now it’s right in the middle of summer and probably the worst time to take them but it’s done. cut back the roots as little as possible but I chopped the foliage back ALOT and put in big pots with well draining organic soil. the leave stayed green and on the trees for about 2 weeks ( i have them in mostly shade) but we hit 117 over here and they got scorched...all the leaves turned brown and I defoliated and chopped back even more, now they are just skeletons and still in the shade.

my question is do they have any chance?

I did the scratch test and they have bright green under the bark on limbs but on trunk light tan and white...now shouldn’t they be dying from the growth tips/ limbs down? Or no? I can’t find any info on the net that explains why the limbs would still be green but trunk has no green beneath the bark? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance sorry for my long first post

 

[bonsaichile]

I will go ahead and ask a controversial and highly offensive question: Do you have any pics to share?

 

[BrianBay9]

If the leaves quickly browned and dropped on their own there's a good chance it will bud back. If they slowly browned over a few weeks and never dropped, it's not a good sign. In any event, there's no point throwing them out until you're sure. Hang in there.

 

[Potsofgreen]

I can get some pics but there skeletons and figured what’s the point? There’s absolutely no leaves but I’ll take a few real quick...leaves did not drop on there own ?

yeah there not taking up any space for me really so they don’t need to go but I just want to know if more than likely there goners...still will probably hold onto them until there dried out completely haha then use them for hammer or axe handles ?

 

[Potsofgreen]

 

[Potsofgreen]

Whoops it double posted some pics my bad, up close pics show the green at top of one but the tan and white at the trunk of the same one

 

[bonsaichile]

Not an expert in oaks, but no leaves this time of the year does not bode well

 

[pbrown00]

If you see green when you cut some bark, it's still alive. I'm not sure about the tree's health though.

 

[PaulH]

There's actually a pretty good chance these may make it. Keep them from drying out but not too wet. I've worked Live oaks in summer with total foliage removal and they bud like crazy. Depends mainly on the roots you got.

 

[Potsofgreen]

Thanks for all the quick responses...Well I’ll keep them watered and hope for the best?....any chance anyone might have a answer why there’s no green on trunk but there is on limbs? Is that just a oak thing and maybe the green is a lot deeper under layers in the trunk? I’m not going to dig a hole in them just looking for green but just wondering

 

[GGB]

that big one is pretty awesome, hope it recovers. I'd baby them for the next few years to make up for beating they just took .

 

[Potsofgreen]

Definitely there going to be getting the star treatment

 

[Zach Smith]

For future reference, when collecting temperate zone deciduous or broadleaf evergreen trees it's always best to defoliate. Why? Because any foliage you leave on the tree continues to draw moisture up through the sapwood. When you collect the tree, all of the feeder roots are gone, so there's nothing to replace the moisture the leaves transpire away. The sapwood dries, then the leaves die and the tree is dead. When you defoliate, the transpiration ends (you also have to seal the trunk chop and any large cuts). The tree will then push trunk buds, usually after a couple of weeks, which will develop into shoots, and finally new roots will start to grow as the new foliage sends hormones back to the root area.