Bacterial wetwood, AKA slime flux, two lovely names for a bacterial infection which is difficult, if not impossible, to treat. The good news? The tree may well withstand this. They often do, but if you begin to see lots of dying branches, loss of foliage, etc. then it may be time to call in an experienced arborist to determine the next step-likely tree removal. But that's not where you are now.

The tree other than this looks healthy leafed out find this spring. There are a few dead branches in the Crown with orange fungal growing on them, could this be related?

So will this stimulus is there a risk or the tree eventually falling Down as the tree would be close enough to hit our home or is it more a gradual decline if any?

Thanks

Guys, is that bit of orange a mushroom? Maybe I am seeing piorly on the cell.

I had an Ash which was diagnosed with the same wet wood problem on here years ago.

Yes, when I had it cut down we could trace the decay lines through the "pancakes" of wood and if Ibremember correctly to a branch "Y".

IMO since it is in a tight spot it is time to have the tree inspected by ISA cerified arborist.

Sorry.

Yes the bit of a orange is a mushroom amd there's more higher in the canopy.

Thanks for advice we will get someone out to take a look. We were going to have the dead branches removed anyway as they have been falling on and off throughout the winter.

Thanks for your help just nice to get an idea with what we are dealing with.

Another question, how does the wet wood work and what would of caused it, should can it spread to other tree, we have two other oaks pretty close?

And would that cause the bark to peel back, the bark of the trunk has kind of gone all flaky.

Slime flux is a virulent pathogen. Yet, as I said earlier, a tree can withstand it for years. Somehow, the bacteria responsible for this condition got into the trunk somewhere. Then, fermentation resulted and the subsequent pressure-said to be up to 60 PSI-forces the ooze out of the trunk. Spread is not well-understood although it is thought that certain wood-boring beetles may have a role there. But again, there is simply no reasonable treatment, save for those normal things we do to maintain the health of our trees. If you're already having a crown cleaning, that's a good sign that you are taking care of this tree, which BTW, is mostly free-range anyway at this point. I suppose if your area experienced serious drought, the one thing you could do is water. But please realize-in watering so large a tree, you're basically watering the entire yard. And this only if absolutely necessary. Don't let a week or two without rain make though think you need to drag the hoses out. I'm talking serious,s prolonged drought.

Don't try to drain the fluid-you'll only make matters worse. Don't fall for the thing you sometimes will see written that such trees need fertilization. This is almost surely not the case.

can we see a pic of the whole... in situ ...

ken

My somewhat ignorant suspicion is water entering the tree through trunk fissures starts the problem. I traced mine up to a poorly angled "Y" which gathered water.

My tree was not going to be cured. My necropsy (right word?) showed the infection ran maybe 10 feet long and six to eight inches in with maybe more than half of that 6 inches being visible 3 dimensional (spelled wrong?) And 2 or 3 more inches of wood discoloration from moisture exposure.

FWIW, my big oak probably has the beginning stages. From 2 points I can tell water is entering the trunk. I don't see any shrooms or evidence of rot so I am doing nothing. 1st shroom on the trunk.......

Notice I am doing nothing. Not that I haven't been tempted, but I just can't decide on a course of action which would do more good than harm. ALTHOUGH if I could access it better I sure would consider an umbrella type device to keep rain out of the 2 likely access points.

Tor, you may be right. These infections often do seem to emanate from such crotches. Of course, it's not the water itself so much as what it may be carrying. Just as fungal spores are floating around, including in the air you and I are breathing right now, so too with bacterial...only maybe even more so.

theres a couple more pictures. There a couple of mushrooms doted around the Base, does this mean the Base of the trunk is rotting?

Only reason we really noticed is all the moss has died off around the areas where the cracks are!

is there any pattern to these holes ...

as in.. some dude with spikes boots climbed this tree ... dont the holes look vaguely similar ...

ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=damage+from+tree+climbing+spike+boots&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_xaO2z9nMAhWKNj4KHQYKAlAQ_AUICCgC&biw=906&bih=745&dpr=0.9

it's fungus. shouldn't cause any major problems to the tree.

Caldwell, you are something else.

There are several fungal pathogens that result in a generic heart rot in oaks. One of the signs of heart rot is the emergence of fruiting bodies, quite often a conk of some sort.

I would like to see the OP invest in a consultation with an ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) professional who can come to the site and quickly investigate the tree. We certainly cannot diagnose anything from the paucity of information and images.

Right^. I didn't address those fruiting bodies the other day, but now that we are talking about them, extremely high likelihood of heart rot. Even this does not mean the imminent demise of this tree-cylinders are extremely strong structures-but it does mean there is some decay going on. Many here would be surprised at how many of the large old trees seen in the landscape are in fact hollow or partially so. This is not "weird" or unusual, but is completely normal occurrence.

Tom, I concur; I've witnessed 'autopsies' of trees that had large hollow cavities inside but still had plenty of supportive, healthy sapwood. In my experience, oaks are routinely capable of living a very long life after the onset of heart rot.

HOWEVER, with Claire's descriptions of bark peeling off and dead branches.....I think she'd be foolish if she didn't have a credentialed expert evaluate the tree. Considering that it's so close to the house, after all.

Update on the tree we will be having the tree inspected by a certified arborist.

Thank you for all your input and I'll update when we know what we are dealing with.

Either way we will have dead Branches and branches with mushrooms on removed and hopefullt the tree isn't of imminent danger. But we will have to be sensible in relation to the close proximity to our home if it's found to have some sort of rot. (hoping this isn't the case)

Thanks again all

Good for you, claire.