Sad Oaks

The oak trees that Van Metre planted on my lot last summer are not doing too well. The maples look good, but the oaks have a lot of dead branches (including the top of one of them). Should I call Van Metre to have them replaced? If not, should I cut off the dead branches and figure they'll fill out in time? What is the best method/product/time to fertilize them?

Thanks for input.

 

If the oak tree has lost it's leader (the center branch that will be the main trunk) it's not really redeemable. Don't know if VM will replace or not, but you should. Are they the street trees or your yard tree?

 

What is the policy on removing "yard" trees installed by builder? We have one 1.5 year old and it was never in good shape to begin with. It's not a good looking tree at all, we would like to remove it altogether.

 

Yes. One of our trees was not thriving like the others on our lot, and we noted it on our 1-year walkthrough (it's roots were probably getting wrapped around a piece of plastic or something that Van Metre blindly covered over when they "smoothed" our lot).

They would have replaced it if it had been dead, but because it clearly wasn't they told us it was not covered under the warranty.

They did replace several areas of grass where the sod had died, however.

 

We worked with Rebecca Leach to get an oak tree replaced last fall in our back yard. It had nothing to do with our one-year walk-through, etc. It was that they planted a bunch of trees in JULY when it was 140 degrees outside and many died! (OK... maybe not quite 140, but still way too hot to plant trees and expect them to live.) They waited until the fall when it cooled down and they did come replace it. So Pam, I'm not sure where you live but if you're up towards the end of Ridgeway in SW like we are where they're still building and planting, you may have some luck going that route.

(And just a thought, too... if its one of the trees they planted in your front yard I suspect its a London Plane rather than an oak. That is what they are planting in everyone's front yard along the street here in SW. I say that not to question your knowledge of trees and what is in your yard, BTW, but because SSSSOOOOOOOO many of them here in SW look exactly like you've described.)

 

Here are the guidelines for tree removal: http://www.broadlandshoa.org/info/designguides/guidelines/Tree_Removal.pdf

 

Thanks for the help. I am in the middle section of SW. These trees are "street trees," I guess, planted about a year after we moved in. One is in the front, next to my ornamental tree, and one in the back/side. It's definitely not a London Plane (although maybe some of my "maples" are...). The leader on one is dead, so I will call Van Metre to see if they will replace it.

 

I am not sure what the difference between a yard tree and a street tree is. This tree is in our front yard and was put in after we moved in. It's only half dead though. It looks awful. The trunk is not 4 inches in diameter at the 4 ft mark so if it is less than that, can we remove? It's not an ornamental tree.

 

if it's a street tree, it is part of the VDOT required landscaping and, I believe, has to be there (presumably alive) when the road is turned over to VDOT. (thus VM will have to replace it to turn over the street, if the street isn't already turned over).

 

I just HAD to reply to this one. We're in SW in a TH and alot of our neighbors have had trees died, even trees that were REPLACED with new ones. Come to find out they had CINDER blocks and all sorts of debris in the ground of their yard! - they just bulldoze all that stuff under when they build those houses. Disgusting! He had to dig out all the garbage in order to grow anything.

 

Speaking of sad (oak) trees, I have a hickory that's all of a sudden a mess. After doing a little research, I found the culprit and fortunately it's not killing the tree but it is really dropping a lot of leaves already. If anyone else is having this problem here's what to do about it:

http://www.treehelp.com/trees/hickory/pecan-hickory-iandd-pecan-phylloxera.asp