Protecting a Tree that has been cut

[Bushy]

Looking for Tree advice. I have a large tree in the front yard, I'm not exactly sure what it is, but a plant app, among other things identified it as live oak which is a good guess, but not conclusive for Houston Texas. See images below of tree.

Click thumbnails to enlarge


Both leaves from same tree.


Tree, Live Oak?​

This tree is either 2 trees that grew together or a single tree that grew with two trunks was joined at the base. About 3 years ago one of these trees was leaning precipitously over the house and we decided to remove it, cutting above where to two trunks joined leaving a stump. I read that a good thing to do was let the cut heal on it's own.

The strump seemed to be fine, but recently a chunk of it collapsed into itself to reveal a hole full of fungess. So last week, I sliced the top of the trunk off to find that the rotted wood extended quite a ways down so I ended up cutting quite a bit of the stump off to get rid of the dead, soft wood.

So what now? I'm concerned that this area that rotted and had bugs in, would threaten the healthy part of the tree. Below you can see what is left and I'm seeking advice as to the best way to treat this new wound. Leaving it alone last time did not work well, so I sprayed it with a pruning spray, which is glorified tar like they use when sealing shingles on roofs.

Stump before and after with fungus?

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I also noticed a crevice where the trunks meet where a fern had decided to grow and there was dirt and bugs in there! I spreayed the area with a biological natural insecticide and after it's done drying, I'm going to fill that in, with roofing tar, unless I hear that is not a good thing to do.

Now that the pruning spray has been applied, it has been several days and a white substance has appeared on the sprayed tar. Any idea what this could be, maybe fungus? I've scrapped it off and see there is black tar underneath it.

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So at this point, I'm wondering if I have done all I can do to protect the tree? My concern is protecting the other tree trunk. Any advice appreciated, other than cutting it down. Seriously it is close to the house, so my concern would to not have a weakened tree there because of the storms we get here often enough.

Thanks!

 

[sb47]

Live oaks can have a variety of leaf shapes and sizes. Could be a cross of two different oaks. Looks like a live oak though. If it holds it's leaves through the winter and sheds them in the spring, it deffenatly a live oak. Thats a very large scar to heal on it's own. You do have some fungus growing in the dead wood.If you cover it with tar or paint it will just tram more moisture in the dead wood. Might hit it with some fungicide to kill the fungus that is growing in the wood. Not sure if it will heal on it's own.

 

[Bushy]

Live oaks can have a variety of leaf shapes and sizes. Could be a cross of two different oaks. Looks like a live oak though. If it holds it's leaves through the winter and sheds them in the spring, it deffenatly a live oak. Thats a very large scar to heal on it's own. You do have some fungus growing in the dead wood.If you cover it with tar or paint it will just tram more moisture in the dead wood. Might hit it with some fungicide to kill the fungus that is growing in the wood. Not sure if it will heal on it's own.

Thanks. When it was first cut, I left it untreated, and it looked good for a long time until the rot inside was revealed. Maybe looking for a tree specialist might be a the thing to do at this point.

 

[Del_]

Thanks. When it was first cut, I left it untreated, and it looked good for a long time until the rot inside was revealed. Maybe looking for a tree specialist might be a the thing to do at this point.

You did serious damage to the remaining tree when you cut it several years ago.

There isn't anything you can do for it now.

You need a tree specialist with a time machine.

You should have gathered more info before you made the cut.