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I asked a similar question here, but something annoying is catching my attention. Almost all of the pin oak trees in my area are sprouting up and down the trunks like crazy this spring, many of them for the first time. Note: These are not root suckers. What conditions might be causing this? Does it have anything to do with the severe winter? enter image description here

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J. Musser
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  • Really! I've never seen sprouts on Pin Oaks...severe winter? Where are you? I'd better go find out. Grin... – stormy May 29 '14 at 23:14

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Most likely, yes. Epicormic shoots are produced in greater numbers in Quercus palustris in particular if pruning is carried out - given your unusually low temperatures, it's likely this will have caused stress to the trees, and the epicormic shoots are a response. It's also possible that some of the topgrowth may be damaged because of the cold, again inducing more epicormic shooting. In other words, the shoots are an environmental stress response in this particular instance.

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