Question: My Shumard red oaks’ trunks have cracks and sap flowing from them. They were planted a year ago and they seem to be going downhill. What can I do now?

Answer: That’s probably sunscald. Young red oak trunks have very little bark to protect them against sudden temperature changes. As with Chinese pistachios, Shumard red oaks will show this damage on the sunny sides of their trunks. The solution is to wrap every new Shumard red oak’s trunk with paper tree wrap up to the lowest limbs for the first year or two you have it in your landscape. At this point you’ll have to use a utility knife very carefully to clean up any decayed wood along the edges of the cracks. It’s possible there will be little or any to cut, in which case you’ll merely need to clean the wound with turpentine, let it air-dry for a day or two and wrap the trunk. Spraying with a borer preventive would probably also be a good idea a day or two prior to wrapping the trunk.