Leaky Tree

[automan25]

I'm a homeowner in Lake Forest Park Washington. In my front yard are two very tall evergreen trees. One of them started leaking sap last summer during a spell of hot weather. I'm not sure what to do about it at this point. Should I ignore it, get an arborist to repair the wound somehow, or remove the tree. I would greatly appreciate everyones' thoughts and expertise. Here is a link to some photos:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_30bPWeh7DOMzBVOEd6bXREOVE&usp=sharing

-Jeff

 

[evo]

I generally don't repsond to questions like this through the forums. Your pictures do not go far enough. You may want to consider removing the ivy, and hiring a reputable company to take a look. This could be nothing more than a broken limb from above, to a possable crack in the stem.

 

[guymayor]

Not sure the vines are a problem, but yes you'll need someone to find where the sap is coming from to know what to do about it (if anything).

If cars or pipes are leaking that's always a problem. Trees, not always.

 

[evo]

It looks like the ivy has been cut from the base, and has been left to die. Which isn't a bad thing (and what should be done), but removal of it may provide a closer look to see what is going on. Generally sap/pitch flow isn't a bad thing. You can think of it as a healthy immune response, like a runny nose flushing out the icky (if it's beetles) or like a scab protecting the injury from decay (fungi). It's much more concerning if the tree should be producing a reaction such as pitch flows but is unable to do so.