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How to Take Care of Native Post Oaks
I get lots of questions from folks who planned their new house or landscape around a beautiful old post oak and five years later are watching the focal point of their landscape decline and die. Here are a few things to keep in mind so your native oaks will continue to live for another 100 years and be enjoyed by the next generation. Post oaks, bluejack oaks, and blackjack oaks thrive in our poor sandy soil. In fact, one of the ways to identify poor soil is if these types of oaks are growing in it, so there is never a need to fertilize our native oaks. When fertilizing your turf grass, steer clear of any native oaks in your yard. Only put fertilizer outside of the drip line of the old trees. It is possible to over water our oaks while trying to keep a turf grass yard alive in our brutal summer heat. Post oaks need to have a well-aerated soil that is not compacted around them and a steady beat of water around the roots will do just that. As much as we hate pocket gophers and moles in our gardens, they are the post oak’s best friend as they keep the soil loose around them. Never drive or park your car under our native oaks or you will compact the soil and kill them. It may take 5-10 years to do them in, but they will eventually succumb. When trimming our native oaks, sterilize the saw blade between trees with bleach or Lysol to keep diseases from spreading from one tree to another. If the utility company is trimming trees on your property, don’t be afraid to ask them to sterilize their saw blades before they start cutting on your property. This is standard procedure for professional tree trimmers and they won’t mind if you ask. Be sure to use black pruning paint on all new cuts in the summer. Post oaks will get oak wilt, but it takes them several years to die instead of a few weeks like the live oaks around Austin, TX. The best time to cut is from November till February so the beetle that spreads oak wilt won’t be attracted to the fresh sap. For landscaping the best thing to do is spread a layer of bark mulch around the shady area beneath the tree and put in pots of ferns or hostas that thrive in shade. This will keep the area around the tree as natural as possible and discourage cars or heavy machinery from working around the drip line.
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Many folks don’t realize how lucky we are to have so many old oaks dotting our landscape and inhabiting our forests. Many of our forests were never clear cut so some of our post oaks that are 2-3 feet in diameter are as much as 400 years old. 
