Q: The leaves on my young red oak tree are looking very strange, they are all twisted and puckered, what is happening and what do I need to do, is the tree going to die?
A: Well, maybe and maybe not. What you have just described is a classic case of herbicide damage to a shade tree. This is very common in the spring when people are use lots weed killers in their lawns. It can be caused by drift from you or any of your neighbors spraying or most commonly the over use of or improper use of Lawn food containing weed killer. These products can not be use around trees. You may get away with it for a while but eventually you will either use too much or it will rain heavy and wash it into the root zone of the soil to be taken up by the tree. All I can recommend is to feed and water the tree and hope that it will out grow the herbicide I would feed monthly and water regularly any time there has not been any rain. All ways read the label even if you do not want to and the instructions are there for a reason, not just to fill up space.