Question
I have an oak tree in my front yard that I assume is about 10-12 years old.  In August 2008, I was backing out of my driveway, looked up and the tree leaves had turned brown.  Seemed to have happened overnight.  It is now almost March, I have noticed acorns on the tree.  Several men have stopped by the house wanting to cut the tree down telling me it is dead....Any idea what is going on with this tree and how can I tell if in fact it is dead?

Answer
Most hardwood trees will drop their old leaves before they put on new ones. some oaks wait until the new buds start to swell. There are oaks that are more evergreen and seem to not drop all their leaves at once. You can tell if the tree is still alive by starting near the end of a branch and scrap a small bit of bark off the twig--if the color under the bark is green the branch is still alive. IF the color under the bark is not green but more brown the branch is dead at this point on the branch. IF brown continue down the branch until you find green and try other branches as high up in the tree as you can reach. When you find green you can prune the dead part off. Ofcourse you can just wait and see what happens in the spring. There is not real hurry to cut a recent dead tree it will not fall for a very long time. I would not let anyone cut it now but wait until about May and see if it is going to leaf back out.