Oak trees retaining leaves in winter?

[kbgfarmer]

I have two young swamp white oaks in my backyard and I've noticed that they retain many their dead leaves into winter and are there in Spring until new growth resumes. I've read that this can be common in young oaks. One of the trees tends to retain more leaves than the other but they both do to an extent. I've heard this is called "marcescence". Do people on this forum with older more mature trees notice this as well or is it only common in young immature trees? I would love to have more leaves fall as I like to mulch these into my lawn in Fall but I guess I can mulch them in Spring as well when they finally fall.

[TimmyG]

You seem to have researched this enough to know the answer. Oaks are one of those trees that hold onto their leaves before they reach maturity, i.e., flower and, in the case of oaks, produce acorns. Then when they do reach maturity, a lot of those original lower branches remain juvenile and continue to hold onto their leaves through winter. All of my mature oaks hold onto leaves on their lower, inner branches.

This is something I learned from my brother, who has degrees in horticulture and works at the NCSU J.C. Raulston Arboretum. Similar to you, when I moved into my first house and had to deal with fall cleanup, I couldn't help but notice that the oaks weren't cooperating. I had never heard the term marcescence, or at least it didn't register if my brother did use it back then, but armed with the keyword, I'd say this article sums it up nicely enough:

Why do trees hold on to their leaves?

[MorpheusPA]

I've always figured it was like a blanky for the tree, keeping it warm in winter. /snark

My pin oak, now 12 years old, does the same thing. But pin oaks tend to do that, and I like it. It increases their winter interest over bare branches.

As you noted, I mulch those leaves with the first few mows of spring instead of doing it in fall. There's certainly no problem doing it that way, you can add leaves any time you can find them, and it may be a slight visual advantage in that they rot in fast and you don't have to look at the leaf bits for long.

[chrismar]

+1 Morpheus. I have a 40ish year old pin oak that does the same thing. It's the only tree on my property that has leaves on it through the winter.

[andy10917]

I have a 100+ year old Oak (white or red, never bothered to figure it out) that still retains leaves.

[ken-n-nancy]

I have a 100+ year old Oak (white or red, never bothered to figure it out) that still retains leaves.

+1 for us on a huge 100+ year old white oak. We have dozens of mature oaks (mostly white oaks, but a scattering of red oaks) in about 1.5 acres of woods. A few of them drop nearly all their leaves in the fall, but most seem to retain about 50% or so of their leaves until at least mid-winter. Some drop leaves intermittently throughout the winter, and some retain a fair number of leaves until March.

The youngest trees (although we don't have many of them) seem to have their leaves turn brown later and seem to retain more through the winter.

[TimmyG]

I confirmed with my brother that he doesn't remember the term marcescence but instead was taught the term "cone of juvenility". I snickered, but apparently that's what it's called.

[LoneRanger]

Get Smart.. Oh wait.. Sorry. Wrong show.