Question
Dear Jim,
I hope you can help! We recently purchased a 30 gallon Shumard Oak and planted it. We followed the instructions from the tree farm and did NOT prune any of the roots, due to the drought and heat we are experiencing this summer.  They also told us to stake it with the tree spikes, to initiate it to put new growth on and we did so. It has been around two months and the leaves started to brown from the tips inward toward the stem.  The mature leaves were effected first and then the new leaves! We watered daily for a week, but then a new symptom occurred. In multiple spots on the trunk of the tree it started to ooze water like fluid down the trunk and then the spot would start to foam up with white foam... Now we can't seem to get the ants to leave the tree alone either!
Does this tree need to be removed before anything spreads to our other young trees.  I have pictures of the what the leaf looks like and what the trunk of the tree looks like if they are needed.
Please help, before my husband kills a perfectly good tree!
Thanks
Charlotte Hutto


Answer
Oaks the first year of planting have a tendency to die back as they concentrate the growth on the roots. Mulching around the tree with not more than 3 inches of organic mulch not piled up on the trunk will help hold moisture around the tree. Also check and see if the tree was planted too deep--the original root ball should be even with the ground surface. If not genitally remove the soil down to the original root ball top.

The oozing could be from a bacteria called slime flux. Wetwood and slime flux are poorly understood tree disease problems. Wetwood is an internal bacterial infection in the wood of host trees. Slime flux is an external bleeding of sap typically associated with such infections.  Concern is sometimes justified as wetwood and slime flux can cause noteworthy debilitating effects on infected trees including some dieback or decline, and an inability for wounds or pruning scars to form callus tissue for healing.
Recognition: Wetwood and slime flux are most often recognized by the oozing, bleeding, or fluxing of sap from bark fissures, pruning scars or wounds on the stems or branches of infected trees. Fluxing often occurs in branch crotches resulting from the tearing of tissues at these junctures by excessive branch weight, wind, etc. The oozing sap is usually dark brown, frothy or slimy and foul smelling soon after it is exposed to the air due to the activity of certain bacteria, yeast and other fungi by which it is rapidly colonized - hence the name slime flux. Slime flux, when profuse, characteristically flows downward from its points of emergence, and upon drying leaves a light gray to whitish incrustation on the surface of the bark. The metabolic activities of the bacteria within infected wood tissues generate a variety of gases, predominantly methane, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. These gases, when confined within the wood tissues, produce unusually high pressures which force the sap outward through wounds and branch stubs giving rise to the readily identifiable, external slime flux.  


There is no known effective control for slime flux. (a spray to control it) Preventative measures such as avoiding moisture stress, proper pruning and adequate fertilization may help invigorate trees.   Fertilizing will help increase the overall health of the tree.
BUT since the tree has just been planted this year I would not fertilize until next year. Then use 10-10-10 fertilizer at the rate of 1 lb of fertilizer per inch of trunk diameter scattered around the tree and watered in good. Do this next spring. Also do not use a fertilizer called Weed and Feed on the lawn near the tree this contains a herbicide that will kill trees.

I would mulch and water with 1 inch of water--place a pan under the tree and turn the sprinkler on and when the pan has 1 inch of water in it stop. Do this every third  day for a couple of weeks then once a week. Watering daily can give the tree too much water and can cause leave the same as too little water. I would not cut it yet but wait until next spring and see what leafs out then if needed prune the dead branches off.