Bleeding Canker

[Sibak Bill]

Hello,
I have what looks like an oak tree in my parents' back yard. It's leaning, as it's roots are exposed at the bottom. Also, there are two knotholes/cankers that have a black resin that has been running for God knows how long. I would like to save this tree, unless it has sudden oak death or any bugs or anything like that. I talked to the guy at the nearby nursery and I understand how to straighten the tree and cover the roots with mulch; however, my real question is if the tree is worth working on. I don't want to take a chance of it spreading a disease to the other trees. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Jason Douglas]

Bleeding isnt normal for oak wilt so I would suspect bleeding cankers such as Phytophthora, Pseudomonas, or a bacterial wetwood/flux.

Some boring insects can cause some bleeding as well.

Leaning with exposed roots? If you're talking about root plate failure (cant tell from the pic) that is a major tree failure pending more forces. How big of a tree?

 

[Sibak Bill]

It's not a big tree. I think the soil on the ground was eroding or just wasn't high enough. I cut the tree down, but I didn't see any evidence of harm below the bark. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

 

[treeseer]

Better safe than sorry, I guess.

We can never be safe, but we can always be sorry.

 

[Sibak Bill]

Cut down the tree. Can the stack of firewood I now have contaminate other trees if I stack them on pallets to line the walkway between standing oak trees?