And we have pictures.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tree pics

Maybe bacterial ooze on the wide-angle pic. That's a big box elder and their position in ecology is not to be a long-lived tree. Looks in decline to me with the given pics from here.

Dan

Thanks Dan. We were thinking we'd have to take it down soon anyway, but we're sorry to see it go. It isn't the prettiest thing but we have a small city lot and it provides great shade and brings in some fun wildlife.

We have some friends who are tree guys, and they say it's the biggest box elder they've ever seen.

Would the bacterial ooze be something that would be likely to spread to other trees, or are we talking about something taking advantage of a tree on the decline health wise?

To of my ash trees exhibited some of the same problems. In both cases the trees had splits wounds open to sky which allowed water in. Since both were over my garage both have been removed.

Here's a picture of a trunk cross section of one of them. Notice the ugly split.

{{gwi:360988}}

Any ideas what you'd like to plant in its place? Another big tree? Maybe a smaller one? Would you like flowers or more fall color?

Here is a link that might be useful: slime flux / wetwood edu article

Would the bacterial ooze be something that would be likely to spread to other trees, or are we talking about something taking advantage of a tree on the decline health wise?

The latter, Ruby. Box elder chips often attract edible mushrooms when spread in the garden as mulch...shop around and be wary of Billy Bob in a pickup truck with a bid way low.

Dan