Why is the big post oak in my yard dying?

Usually several things at once. AgriLife links rapid post oak decline to swings between drought and saturated soil followed by root rot, cankers and borers, and the Forest Service adds root damage and compaction from building work. An estimate will say whether the tree is worth keeping or has to come down.

When can oaks near the lake be pruned?

Any month outside the February 1 to June 30 window. The site’s oak wilt calendar explains why spring cuts on oaks are avoided, and every oak cut gets painted no matter the month.

Tree Service in Montgomery, TX — Sam Houston Tree Co

Q: Do I need city approval to remove a tree in Montgomery?

Often not, when the tree stands on the lot you live on. As the city’s tree preservation article (Chapter 78, Article VII) read in September 2026, it does not apply to a tree removed from a single residential lot at the direction of the homeowner living there, and dead trees may be removed at any time. If you own the lot but live elsewhere, or the work is part of building or clearing, call City Hall first, because removing a protected tree takes a permit.

The west side of Lake Conroe grows a different kind of tree problem than the I-45 corridor. Montgomery’s older lots and lake properties carry mature post oaks and live oaks — trees worth real money to the property, and worth doing right. Post oaks in particular hate two things: compacted roots and enthusiastic pruning. Plenty of dead ones were killed years earlier by construction traffic parked under the canopy.

So around Montgomery the work leans preservation-minded: careful crown cleaning, deadwood removal over docks and outdoor kitchens, and honest calls on which oaks are declining versus just dry. When one does have to come down over a boathouse or between lake homes, that’s rigging work — sectioned small, roped, and lowered.

The oak wilt calendar is law on this side of the lake — the disease is established in Texas live oaks, and February–June pruning is how neighborhoods get it.

Older than the county it belongs to

Montgomery came before Montgomery County. W. W. Shepperd founded the town around his home and store, and later that same year the Congress of the Republic of Texas created the county in an act signed by President Sam Houston. The first railroad missed Montgomery, the county seat eventually moved to Conroe, where the major rail lines met, and Montgomery lost a large share of its people soon afterward. On any old lot the first thing an estimate looks at is what sits under the canopy: a roof, a porch, a service line, or open ground.

A shoreline that dates from 1973

The west shore is younger than it looks. Lake Conroe was built on the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, the dam was finished and the lake filled in 1973, and part of the water lies inside the Sam Houston National Forest. Every waterfront lot on this side of Montgomery is therefore newer than the lake itself.

Why post oaks here go downhill

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension calls it rapid decline of post oaks, after a wave of deaths across the state in 2016. Swings between drought and drowning leave the tree open to cankers, root rots and wood-boring insects that would not normally kill it, and the 2011 drought made all of it worse. The signs: yellow and brown leaves spreading quickly through the whole crown, and dead leaves that stay on the twigs. The same publication calls post oaks notoriously susceptible to the root disturbance and compaction that come with development.

AgriLife names hypoxylon canker as the most prevalent canker on post oaks. According to the Texas A&M Forest Service the fungus does not invade a healthy tree, only one already damaged or stressed, and a tree it has killed decays so fast that it may not hold a climber’s weight. A dead one standing where it could fall on a structure, a road, a fence or a power line should come out as soon as possible, which is where removing a dead oak near the house stops being a decision and becomes a date on the calendar.

Keeping roots alive through a remodel

Plenty of west-shore oaks are lost to a renovation rather than a storm. The Forest Service guidance for building near trees is direct: fence off a protection zone, spread a layer of mulch inside it, allow no trenching or digging there, and set aside separate spots for parking and for storing materials. If the grade must be raised, it recommends adding fill only in small amounts each year.

City rules, and a reminder from Beryl

Montgomery’s code of ordinances carries a tree preservation and replacement article (Chapter 78, Article VII) that covers the city limits and the extraterritorial jurisdiction around them. As it read on the city’s code site in September 2026, a protected tree is one measuring 10 inches or more across the trunk, a short list of species excepted, and removing one takes a city permit. It does not apply to a tree removed from a single residential lot at the direction of the homeowner living there, and dead trees may be removed at any time. Builders, owners who live elsewhere and anyone clearing land should call City Hall before booking. Storms reach this side of the lake as well: the National Weather Service summary of Beryl records widespread fallen trees across Montgomery County in July 2024.

Four kinds of work can be requested for a Montgomery address, and each one is quoted per tree, in writing, at no cost:

Tree service in Montgomery and the west shore