Monterrey oaks (also known as Mexican white oak) started getting popular as a planting choice about 10 years ago. 
There are a few scattered specimens around town that are older than this, but not many. So far, this tree is proving to be a hardy tree to the area and it is oak wilt resistant. I expect to see more and more of the Monterrey oak as the years go by. But, for now, the jury is still out on this tree in my opinion. We’ll need to see a number of these trees live into maturity before I give them a full-blown thumbs up.
The tree is said to grow to 40-60′in height. I haven’t seen any Mexican white oaks old enough to reach this height and certainly the growing conditions of your yard would have a large impact on max size. Near a water source, I can envision the Monterrey oak reaching these heights;in the hill country it would likely top out around 20-30′.
The only disease I really ever find on the Monterrey oak is powdery mildew. This is a very manageable disease. I’ve seen our regular spring oak worms chew on some of the foliage, but this is normal for all oaks in the area. The Monterrey is not any more prone or less likely to this kind of attack. As a whole they are definitely insect and disease resistant.
Pruning needs are very moderate for this tree. Because Mexican white oaks are fast growing they’ll need some regular pruning to keep low limbs out of the way. But, they don’t produce a lot of deadwood and they don’t need any creative pruning or thinning.
The Monterrey oak’s natural distribution ranges from Guatemala in central America all the way up through Mexico, and there is one small stand of Monterrey oaks in south west Texas found back in 1992. In its natural distribution, the Monterrey oak is found in many different ecosystems ranging from river banks, to cloud (mountain) forests, to arid-desert like areas. This is definitely a hardy tree suited for many different settings.
As the years go by and I see more and more healthy specimens, I find myself recommending the Monterrey oak more and more. The tree is fast growing, hardy and offers foliage for 10-11 months out to the year. Monterrey oaks are a good choice to bring greenery into the winter landscape and to provide a large barrier for privacy screening.
Related posts:
- Leaf Roller Aphids on Live Oaks
- The Mexican Sycamore –Platanus mexicana
- Planting New Trees In Oak Wilt Sensitive Areas
- What is a Good Fast Growing Shade Tree for Austin and Central Texas? – Red Oak
- All About Bradford Pears
I'm Keith Brown, owner of Austin Tree Experts. This is my repository of tree knowledge. I hope you find what you are looking for.
I have Monterrey Tree, it hasn’t grown much in the last 4 years. What does it take
Hi Keith, the nursery planted a Monterrey Oak in my back yard. I can see little sprouts but they die. What’s wrong? Nothing grows in my back yard!
Keith, I have a monterrey oak that is about 7 years old. It is large and provides lots of shade. Last month it lost all it leaves(as usual) and I saw new tiny leaves emerging. Yesterday I was in my back yard and was shocked to see all the tiny leaves were dead. My neighbors have this tree and they are fully leaved now. What has happened and is my tree dead?
Hello. I had a young Monterrey Oak planted by a nursery last year. It’s growing well. But yesterday we noticed that all the leaves have a strange bumpy texture and it looks ODD! Does it have a disease? What can I do? Thank you!
Hi, Keith. I live in new jersey, but i was born in an area of mexico that is very hot and most what i see there is mesquite. I was wondering if some time in the future i can go to my place and plant some monterrey oak trees. I am a master gardener and i wish if i can get seeds or find the best way on how to propagate the monterrey oak tree. I will be very greatfull if you can guide me on how to get seeds or more information .I thank you in advance for your generosity, Frank.
Unfortunately I don’t have any experience propagating seeds. You might try with your regional state Forester.
Is the Monterrey Oak resistant to Cotton Root Rot? I am interested in planting a number of them.
Thanks
We live in San Antonio and in our backyard we have a section that is open, we can therefore see right into our back neighbors house, we have been told of two tress to look at, hillspire Juniper or Monterrey Oak. Any idea which one would be better.
Thanks
[...] at Green and Growing up the road, and with a final vote from my other half we picked up a Mexican White Oak (aka Monterray Oak.) We believed our previous tree to be a Silver Maple, and it was quite large for [...]
I planted a chinquapin oak about 15 feet from my slab driveway. Do I have to worry about slab damage from the root system as the tree matures?
Keith,
I am worried that my Mexican White Oak might be dying. I live in south texas(The Rio Grande Valley). I purchased a 10-gal, approx. 10 ft tall Mexican White Oak tree from Home Depot back in March/2011 –It had an orange tag on it that stated that i came from a nursery in Ben Wheeler,TX. I planted it on 3/19/11. In reference to planting it, I followed the instructions from a local nursery. I began watering it according to the instructions i found on this website, in the article titled, “How to Water a Newly Planted Tree”(posted May 3, 2010). Throughout the rest of the month of march –towards mid-may, my tree looked good. I mean the leaves remained green and big(about 2 inches long). Sometime towards the end of May and to this day, the tips on the leaves of my Mexican White Oak began and are turning brown –they have not shrunk, nor have they fallen off. Another thing i did was get my hands on some humic acid and applied it to the tree throughout this time period. I applied the humic acid 3 times so far, once in april, may, and june. Each time i applied 2 oz of humic acid with 15 gallons of water. I would take a 5 gallon bucket, put 1 oz of humic acid and then filled it with 5 gals of H2O, did it again and finally the third time i would just fill the 5 gal bucket with only H2O. I also applied Superthirve once –May –the same day that i applied the humic acid. For the Superthrive, I took one ounce and mixed it with 5 gals of water. From what i have told you, what do you think is wrong with my tree? Why are the tips of the leaves brown?
I got a 15 to 18 foot Monerrey Oak at a 4th of July Auction. Can I plant this now or wait till fall?
Keith,
Would you recommend against planting a Monterrey Oak between two houses that are ~15-20 feet apart? I understand that the trees grow straighter than other oaks, and I am wondering if the roots do the same. I am trying to avoid slab/root damage as the tree matures.
Thanks,
Daniel
Planted 50 gal monterrey year ago May and it seems to be doing well except for a bit of bark on the lower trunk that seems to be peeling off. Is this normal? And, when do I fertilize tree for 1st time? Thx
trying to plant a 125 gal monterrey this weekend but dont know how much water to give it for the first two years? I read that planting in June might not be a good idea. Please help so i dont make mistakes.
I highly suggest you don’t plant right now. Planting before summer is a death sentence. I have a series of articles about planting trees;you can find them here: http://www.austintreeexperts.com/blog/category/tree-planting-austin/
We have a Monterrey oak that we planted 2 years ago. This winter it lost nearly all of its leaves. Only the leaves on the bottom half came back this Spring. The top ~4 feet is completely bare. Will it come back? Is the top half dead? Should we prune it?
Any part that doesn’t have leaves at this point, isn’t going to leaf out. Prune out the dead parts and start a good fertilization regimen.
I have a Monterrey Oak that was planted about 2 years ago here in Houston. I’ve noticed this year that there is some sort of scale on the leaves. When scratched this scale exudes a bit of oily/greasy substance. Do you know what this is and what can be done about it? The tree looks healthy except for this, and was fertilized last fall.
Thank you
It probably was some variety of scale insect. These insects are very easy to treat;you should be able to go to your local garden store and tell them your problem to get a good product to treat with. Regarding the fertilizer…good fertilization practice involves regimented treatments if you really want to see an improvement in the tree’s health. Check out this article: http://www.austintreeexperts.com/blog/tree-fertilizer-products-for-the-do-it-yourselfer/
i’m creating a web page for wildlife habitat creation in the austin area and would like to provide a link to your pages for information regarding trees. may i do so?
Sure. I’d be happy for you to link to any pages you like.
Interesting and informative website. Earlier this year, we planted two Mexican White or Monterrey Oaks, which we purchased from different places. Both appear to be doing well, but one has much smaller leaves than the other. Is this just normal, a result of different breeding or something to be concerned about? Thanks.
Not something to be concerned about. This is very common in Monterrey oaks.
We planted to 2 monterry oaks 2 years ago .All the leaves turned brown when the first small cold front came. The leaves haven’t fallen off and I don’t see any new ones . Has my tree died? They were healthy before.
Do you have any new leaves yet? Anytime this sort of thing happens, all you can do is wait.
Do you know anyone who sells this species as veneer flitch?
What would happen to a mexican sycamore tree if I water it in the winter &spring?
Probably nothing. If it’s a newly planted tree, it’ll be happy for the water even though it’s dormant season. This is assuming you aren’t over watering, that’s never ok. Type ‘water’in the search box on the right and check out those articles.
I have planted 12 large Monterrey oaks in the yard over the last few years. With the very cold weather they do lose a lot of leaves but they come back fine. I was told they would not lose leaves but they do. Actually the Chinquapin oak I planted is better about keeping its leaves than the Monterrey oaks. Someone told me differently but in San Antonio this is not the case. Either way, they are 2 very beautiful oak trees. Not to worry if they lose their leaves. This year 2011 my 12 Monterrey oaks have lost about 1/3 of their leaves in very cold weather and about 1/4 of the remaining leaves have changed color and will probably drop before spring.
I also have a new Monterrey Oak planted maybe a month ago…250 gallons. I live in Austin &was told by the landscaper that it would be green year round but over the last couple of weeks, most of the leaves have turned yellow…a little help? I really hope I’m not losing it!!!
Keith,
See the attached images. I just planted a 3.5″Monterrey Oak 2 weeks ago that was a b&b tree from North of Dallas. When I planted it, the leaves were what I would consider “normal.”Shortly after planting, the leaves looked, and still look, like they do in the pictures –a yellow tint and stiffer than normal. Is this something I should be worried about? Too little water? Too much water? Too much fertilizer/root stimulator?
Thanks for the help!
PS –I can’t get the images to save to your blog. I’ve tried two different sized images on 3 different browsers and 2 different operating systems.
We have 2 50 gallon oak trees. One a Chinquapin and the other a Monterey.
They were planted 2 years ago and are good condition. I want to know when a good time to prune the two would be. They are each getting disproportionately tall and I would like to create better proportions by cutting some of the branches for fullness.
Any info would be appreciated.
Less is more in regards to pruning for the first several years. Any pruning you do needs to be very conservative. Generally, I only like to address structural issues in the first 3-8 years ( influence a central leader and remove crossing limbs).
Keith,
Here are 3 pics to go along with my query about leaves turning yellow on my just planted Monterrey Oak
This is normal color for new growth on a monterrey oak. Nothing to worry about here. You do need to try to get the piece of bamboo out of the ground near the trunk. In 2-3 years you’ll need to do a root flare excavation. Looks like the farm that grew your tree filled in too much soil around the trunk.
I have just planted 3 Monterrey oaks. Approx caliper is 2″and they are about 8-10 feet in height. I think they were 15 or 20 gallon. I noticed this morning that two of the trees have leaves turning yellow at the ends of the branches in a few places. They have been in the ground one week and I have been watering them every other day.
Brian in Cedar Park
I just planted my monterey oak in the spring but the leaves keep turning brown and the top leaves have little holes in them. What do I do?
Sofia
enclosed pls find the pictures of my monterrey oak.
Please tell me what to do???
Sofia
Considering how late we are in the season, I’m not too worried about some of the premature leaf drop. The sap coming from the trunk is another story. I’d guess that you have some boring insects that are creating a wound that sap is weeping from. You should do a borer treatment with a product such as Bayer tree and shrub insect control. It would probably be best to hire a pro. We offer programmed tree care services. You’d spend about $200 per year for 4 treatments including any insect and disease control as needed.
We have two Monterrey Oaks that were planted about 3 1/2 years ago. They are both about 12-15 feet in height and have what appear be healthy leaves. However, they exhibit vertical cracking/splitting on the base of the trunk extending up about 12 inches from the ground. One has a white, foamy substance oozing from the cracks (photos attached). There is also what appears to be ants swarming the cracks. Any thoughts?
The seepage at the base is called slime flux. It is a bacterial thing. But, not worth treating. This problem does not cause major problems for the tree in my experience. Put the tree on a good fertilization regimen and watch it close.
Could you please advise the type of fertilization regimen we should apply. We’re not that familiar with tree fertilizers and application methods.
Read this article:
http://www.austintreeexperts.com/blog/tree-fertilizer-products-for-the-do-it-yourselfer/
That was a typo. It was a 50 gallon container. I will e-mail you the picture.
The leaves look normal. They should develop into a healthy green color in the next several weeks.
I have a Monterey Oak that was planted two years ago. It was in a 500 gallon container. Lately, I have seen ligth green leaves grow at the end of branches. That is, the first part of the branch has dark green leaves and at the end the light green leaves. Is this common?
Wow! That is an enormous container grown tree. I’d need to see a picture of the leaves to be certain. It is normal for new leaves to come out an off color and then turn green as they develop. Usually, with monterrey oaks the leaves have more of a red color when they first emerge. If they are coming out yellow that may be an indication of a problem. Can you email me a photo to keith at AustinTreeExperts dot com?