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Burr Oak
Quercus macrocarpa
51.7914, -114.09
Field Notes
Description:
This particular Bur Oak, also called Mossycup Oak (Quercus marcocarpa) is located in the Olds College Botanical Gardens. The native habitat originates from Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, west to Manitoba and Texas. It has been planted in a park which will allow of the average height of 70-80' feet tall and a canopy ranging from 80-100' feet wide to be achieved. This will however take over a span of 20+ years as Oaks are a very slow maturing tree. An average of 15-20' in growth is expected each year as long sandy soils with limestone minerals are needed to keep in the soil for proper root up take. The leaves are an alternate, simple, obovate to oblong-obovate ranging 4-10" long and about half as wide. The bark can be seen as a dark grey to grey brown color with rough and developing deep ridge characters. Being an Oak tree this species also does develop a nut fruit that does mature in a single season.
Habitat:
It is planted at the right depth where you are able to see the root flair at the base that will give the tree adequate stability and nutrient up take. Being planted in a bed with mulch on top may not be giving the roots the proper amount of up take needed to help sustain this non native tree species to Alberta. There are no other trees or objects around that would block out sunlight during the whole day. This does however allow for all types of weather conditions to be a factor on the health of the tree especially the wind. Two other Bur Oak trees are planted in the same tree bed and all seem to be maturing at the same pace even though two have started to go into senescence more quickly.
Notes:
Having a closer inspection upon the tree and more specifically on the leaves you are able to see small growth like bumps developing on some of the leaves. Oaks can develop a disease called Oak Leaf Blister. There will be raised spots and underneath you will see the leaves slightly sunken or indented. The blisters start off as pale green or orange and eventually they turn brown or black. Severely infected leaves may curl up and drop off early. This may explain as to why the three Oak trees all seem to be at different stages of senescence since one tree may be more infected then the last. Oak Leak Blister does not cause much harm to the tree but can also be prevented. Most trees are able to bounce back from infections without needing chemicals. In order to cure this there are some simple plant health care techniques that can be done. Watering well in hot drought like conditions as we have seen much of this past season in our region, and apply a deep root fertilization right before the winter to help boost the health.
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