Oak Tatters

Hello, Master Gardeners! If you are looking for additional information on oak tatters, you have reached the right page. All information posted is in the question and answer form. We will continue to post other questions along with their answers on this page, as we get information from the survey. We hope this website proves as a useful tool to understand and identify oak tatters.

Q. What is oak tatters?
Answer: During the last couple of decades, white oaks in North Central Region of the United States have developed malformations of newly developing leaves. These malformations give the leaves a tattered appearance as most leaves are void of interveinal tissue. An oak tree showing such a symptom is said to have developed "oak tatters."

Q. How does oak tatters affect a tree?
Answer: Oak tatters can affect a substantial portion of a tree's canopy, reducing the overall health of the tree and making it more susceptible to other stresses. The first flush of leaves when affected by oak tatters results in reduced photosynthetic activity due to loss of leaf tissues, and the tree is forced to produce another set of leaves, thereby depleting the tree of its stored resources and making it susceptible to insects and diseases.

Q. Where in United States has oak tatters been reported so far?
Answer: The problem of oak tatters has been reported in Illinois and neighboring states including Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Q. Does it occur on all oak species?
Answer: No, the problem of oak tatters has so far been observed only on white oaks and related white oak species. We have not seen or heard of red oaks being affected by tatters.

Q. Can the symptoms of oak tatters reoccur on a tree?
Answer: Yes, the symptoms of oak tatters can reoccur over multiple seasons, but may not necessarily appear each year.

Q. Is there any age barrier to trees, which can be affected with oak tatters?
Answer: No. Oak tatters have been observed on white oaks of any age.

Q. What factors are thought to cause oak tatters?
Answer: Although no research has been done to date, to confirm the cause of oak tatters, environmental stress to the trees in spring just when leaves are emerging, frost conditions, insect attack and herbicide drift, are all thought to be possible causes for oak tatters.


Oak tatters- Photo Gallery

Photos 1 and 2 show a progression in the development of oak tatters. The leaves of white oak at first begin to lose interveinal tissues (photo1) leaving only veins with almost no or little leaf tissues surrounding the veins (photo 2). A close up view of tattered oak leaves can be seen in photos 3 and 4. Photo 5 shows an oak branch with tattered leaves.

 

      

Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photo 4
Photo 5

 

 

Related links:
http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/cespubs/hyg/html/199906d.html
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/pest_al/oaktatters/oaktatters.htm
http://ppdl.org/dd/id/oak_tatters-oak.html
http://www.forestry.iastate.edu/ext/nletter/FEB00-57.pdf
http://www.treehelp.com/trees/oak/oak-insects-oak-tatters.asp
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fid/august02/tatters.html
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/forestry/fh/fhissues/tatters.htm
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fid/april01/section1.html

Acknowledgments:
Author: Jayesh B. Samtani, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Edited by: Dr. John Masiunas, Dr. James E. Appleby and Monica David, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The author would like to thank Dr. James E. Appleby and Dr. John Masiunas for providing information for most part of the text material mentioned on this web page.

For more questions, contact:
Jayesh Samtani
1201 W. Gregory, Urbana, IL- 61820
Email: jsamtani@uiuc.edu (preferred mode of contact)
Phone: 217-244-4231