Question
Hi,

My husband and I just recently built a house on a wooded lot in SC.  We tried to keep as many of the trees in the backyard as we could.  We have a large southern red oak, many sweetgums, and several water oaks which seem like they may be having problems.  Some of these trees have what I think are canker sores from what I've read (that appear quite old) and some of them appear to have some dead sections near the tops.  I am wondering if this could be a disease affecting all of them, or are these symptoms of natural old age in these trees.  Is it anything to worry about? It mostly is the sweetgums that have the old looking cankers.  They are typically oval shaped with a rough calloused edge and exposed weathered looking wood in the middle. Also one of the sweetgums appears to have some rotten wood near the base where the roots enter the ground.  The red oak is quite large and just has occasional dead looking branches.  One of the water oaks has a fairly large dead section in the top but no cankers.  Also in the yard, we have black cherry, mockernut hickory, winged elms, red maple, and hop hornbeam which all seem perfectly healthy (they also are typically a lot smaller trees except for the cherry and hickory).  I know that construction equipment compacting the soil can stress trees but my sense is that these issues were here before we began construction.  Construction was completed in August of 07, and these conditions have been pretty steady state since then.  The healthy parts of the trees continue to be healthy despite the dead parts and the cankers.  But some of these trees are quite large so if they are in danger of falling, we need to make a plan. I realize this may not be enough info for you to tell too much, but I appreciate any input.

Answer
There are really too many variables that without looking at the trees and the conditions they are growing in I can not give you a good answer. I would recommend that you call the local office of the SC Forestry Commission and ask on of their Foresters to come out and take a look. This is a free service. SC Forestry has an excellent Forest Health person and if the Forester is stumped ask them to call her and see if she can come look.

Here is the web link to their contact page just chick on the county you are in and get the number or look in your local phone book.

http://www.state.sc.us/forest/sc.htm

Also here is the link to their Insect and Disease staff contacts
http://www.state.sc.us/forest/scid.htm

Laurie Reid should be able to help.