Shumard Red Oak...problem?

Should my tree be oozing like this?? Is it just growing? It just started some time this week. It's just now starting to leaf out, which is normal for it.

Google "bacterial slime flux" or "bacterial wetwood".

Thanks...those sound pretty nasty but seems there's not anything to do about it. I'll just dab on some "Tree Trunk Goop" and try to ignore it so I don't make it worse. lol

I don't think I would put anything on it. Sprinkling some ant granules around it may help with the insects though.

A lot of attention has been given to Live Oak Wilt, but Red oaks are more susceptible than live oaks. Trees infected with Oak Wilt also ooze.

I found the following in A Balcones Canyonlands Preserve Land Management article:

"On red oaks, symptoms are less distinct and harder to recognize. The first foliar symptoms observed on red oaks (Spanish and blackjack oaks) are flagging. Flagging or browning occurs when the leaves on a shoot or branch suddenly turn brown or bronze colored. Typical foliar oak wilt symptoms in deciduous oaks include water soaking and browning or bronzing of leaf
tips and margins (MacDonald and Hindal 1981). Leaves turn pale green and then brown, while remaining on the tree for a while. Sometimes the leaves have a wilted, water-soaked appearance and may be quickly shed. For most members of the red oak group, nearly the entire crown shows symptoms soon after the disease is evident. Once infected with oak wilt, red oaks die quickly, two weeks to several months. Red oaks do not survive once infected with oak wilt. Diagnosis of oak wilt in the field depends on the presence of the foliar symptoms and fungal mats, and the patterns of mortality caused by fungal spread. Visible symptoms of oak wilt are not always present. Laboratory tests may be performed on the sapwood of both live and red oaks to determine the presence of the fungus. C. fagacearum
sometimes can not be isolated by laboratory testing, nor recognized by foliar symptoms. In some cases patterns of mortality are used as an indicator of disease presence."

From the following link, choose the office nearest you from the dialog box. If you have a concern or suspect that your tress might have oak wilt, I'm sure the office will send a technician to look at the tree. Oak wilt has killed millions of trees. It's something you don't want in your neighborhood.
http://txforestservice.tamu.edu/contacts/default.asp?strLocation=COLLEDIRECTOFF
Can you remember what symptoms your other red oak suffered before it died?

This message was edited Apr 3, 2007 3:59 PM

Bettydee, I haven't had any trees die. I just found this tree oozing a few days ago. We do have 2 of these same trees and the other one did this a few years ago. I thought my husband nicked it with the weedeater so that's when I bought the "Tree Trumk Goop". It's been fine and has grown very large.

I haven't seen any signs of any type of disease on either tree. ?

I'd not bother with the goop - the pressure of the fluid oozing out will just push it off the trunk

Resin

...but it didn't before. ? Are y'all familiar with the TTG? I heard about it several years ago from a local organic gardening guru-sort-of-guy. It's 1/3 of each in water and paint on trunks: diatomaceous earth, soft rock phosphate, manure compost. I purchased mine already mixed.

I went out this evening and started pulling out the grass that was growing up close to the trunk. I think the grass has formed too high of a sort of mound where compost used to be. I'm going to pull out as much grass as I can and try to uncover the flare, again. Maybe that will help too.