Question
We live in Richmond, VA and have five 40+ year old pin oaks which are not doing well and may even be dead.  Although they got some leaves this past spring, the leaves fell off in August.  They have produced acorns. They have also sprouted some small branches lower on the trunk. 3 arborists have told us they are probably dead, but none agree on the cause.  Before I take down these beautiful trees, how can I make sure they are dead and not just stressed from the drought of the past few years?  Thank you for anything you can tell me.

Answer
To tell if they are dead or not--start at the end of one of the upper branches you can reach and scrape a small bit of bark off the branch. If the color under the bark is brown then the branch is dead at that point on the branch. If the color is green then the branch is still alive. If brown continue down the branch and look for green--if none try another branch. If you find green then prune off the dead branches and it will more then likely re sprout next spring. If you are getting a few small branches sprouting on the lowed trunk the tree may re sprout at that point but depending on the size of the trunk it may not ever be a good looking tree. If all you are getting is a few sprouts you may want to consider replacing the tree.