How to manage live oaks

Live oaks drop. Clean it up and enjoy.

I have recently done the same, purchase a house with live oaks. On the front half of my roof I’ve got tons of whatever it is that the tree drops. Looks very bad, and it doesn’t seem to wash out with the rain, it just seems to compact on the roof. Thinking about going up there with a blower but I’m worried about messing up the shingles. Will using a blower take off more than just the tree droppings?

install gutter guards

They will drop the leaves twice a year and the pollen things once a year. We have a few over 200 yrs old on our property. We have them trimmed and thinned out every two years (mainly the ones you can see from the house) Before we started that strategy, we were loosing to many big limbs during storms. Thinning and lifting the canopy let’s the wind blow through then better vs against them. We try as much as possible to keep them astheticly trimmed over the roof if possible. During both dropping seasons we have to rake or blow off the roof every now and then to keep the leaf dams from backing up the rain / rotting leaves from damaging the roof. Thankfully we do not have gutters. We can let some branches naturally make it to the ground but others we have to make sure to manage the weight so they do not get to heavy.

I can always tell when it is about or past time to get them trimmed bc after a rain some of the larger thicker leaved limbs will sag under the wet leaves sometimes up to 3 or 4 feet. I can also her more “shedding” hitting the roof in bad thunderstorms. Keeping the suckers trimmed in the middle make them look nicer too.

The two big ones usually cost about 1200 to 1500 per trimming (not per tree). If you do it yourself keep in mind the amount of waste is deceptive. We did it once and ended up with a pile that was probably 12 foot wide by 10 feet tall. Since then I just call the arborist so they can shred that stuff and take it with them.

We are in BR and I can recommend Boffinger, very professional and always do a great job. Will even come back out for free if I want more trimmed after they finish.

Houston Med Center has nets at the base of the branches to catch the leaves.

Keep it pruned (talk to an arborist, don't hack at it yourself), especially of dead branches and look out for diseases particular to southern oaks. They are pretty hardy trees but can become susceptible to certain fungi that can kill them if stressed due to drought or other conditions.

Those are root sprouts. Live oaks are known to be a surculose species. That can be an indicator of stress. Stress can come from over-mulching, compaction, poor fertility, fire, etc. Virtually no research has been done on this, but “experts” will claim it is genetic. If you really want to get rid of them, air spade your tree and remove the giant mat of roots that the sprouts are growing from. Otherwise, diquat or roundup every couple weeks.

Wow thanks for the info td1, that’s exactly what I’m looking for. Based on the condition of rest of the house before we got it I’m going to assume nobody has been out to look at these trees in ages. Will get someone out ASAP.

That’s a really good quote td1 has on trimming 2 live oaks. Last time I trimmed mine it was $1750 for 2. I can’t complain though. They did a fantastic job and trimmed my fruit tree just because they wanted to. Another house in the neighborhood had a different company and they lion tailed the shite out of their oaks. Looks ridiculous.

Not sure what the rest of your yard is like but my oaks (6) take up 90% of my time doing yard maintenance.

1. Leaves & Acorns. Have to be near 100 bags this year. One oak went fully nude this winter.
2. Cleaning the roof
3. Chasing away any shade loving weeds in my St. Aug.

I trim my lower canopy myself with my 17’ ladder and a pruning pole to keep the shade minimal on the grass until it’s time to call an arborist for what I can’t get.