Auburn's Toomer's Corner Oaks poisoned

[carnation]

Someone on Facebook has noted that the guy lived in Texas for awhile and wondered if he might have been the one to damage the Treaty Oak there, which survived an attack--barely.

Auburn is gonna have to take out tons of soil from that spot and who knows if anything will grow there again?

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by carnation

Someone on Facebook has noted that the guy lived in Texas for awhile and wondered if he might have been the one to damage the Treaty Oak there, which survived an attack--barely.

Auburn is gonna have to take out tons of soil from that spot and who knows if anything will grow there again?

I thought that guy already served time.

My next question was going to be the impact on surrounding vegetation and groundwater...Are the trees in bad shape now? Will it be a long death, or will it be sudden? If this had been discovered sooner, could the consequences have been mitigated?

[carnation]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

I thought that guy already served time.

My next question was going to be the impact on surrounding vegetation and groundwater...Are the trees in bad shape now? Will it be a long death, or will it be sudden? If this had been discovered sooner, could the consequences have been mitigated?

I have heard that they weren't in top shape before being poisoned but pretty good for their age. They appear okay now because they're in winter dormancy; obvious damage would start in the spring, about a month away in Auburn.

On TV, the professors said that the trees will likely start to yellow, then maybe turn green and have a year of more of apparently good health, and then die. They're removing soil now but they think that besides the live oaks, more trees and shrubs will be affected. The groundwater shouldn't be hurt because of the soil type (silty clay, which is pretty tightly packed).

Someone on FB suggested half in jest that we replace the trees with bronze ones so they couldn't be hurt. Well, I don't know if anything can ever grow there again, even if they remove the soil way down.