Hello everyone, and thanks in advance for your help.

I have three 45-gallon live oaks, planted in October 2010. All have undergone some degree of transplantation stress, but while two are recovering nicely, the third did not. After normal defoliation in the spring, only about 50% of the leaves came back, and most of the tips of the branches were dead.

We are having a severe drought here in Texas (I am in San Antonio), so I have worked hard to keep these trees well watered this year. Despite my effort, I have noticed over the last week that the trunk bark on one side (south-facing) is becoming increasingly discolored and wet-looking, as if it were "stained" a reddish brown. It extends from the lowest branch all the way to the highest branch. I have noticed some oozing and bubbles in some areas. It reminds me of what I see when I google "oak decline."

Whatever is ailing this tree also seems to have attracted red oak borers. I found them because I took a flashlight to the area last night, and they covered the damaged area. There were many fresh, oozing holes in the area last night as well. Today, I see that there are holes all over the area and below on the seemingly unaffected trunk, as if they were boring thier way out of the tree overnight.

Is anyone familiar with these issues? I am debating on a systemic application of Merit, or topical application of permethrin, or both. I hate to do this because I would like to avoid killing beneficials, but these trees are both beautiful and quite an investment. With that, I'm still only attemting to correct the insect issue, and don't even know where to start with the tree itself.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I would truly appreciate it, as I would really like to save this tree. I will try to upload some images to show the discoloration and oozing.