I really hope it is going to go away itself OR even with a treatment. Is it bacterial wetwood? I really love this tree, it has great form, nice widespreading branches. I think I may actually cry if it will die. i planted it from a 3 ft tall little twig I dug out of the woods about 16 years ago.

That's a very old wound. Possibly was bashed by a mower.

No treatment will help. It takes time for a tree to cover a would like that.

Not an infection.

Likely to survive if the wound affects less than 50 percent of the circumference.

Survival estimate might be possible if you show us entire tree, especially condition of the top.

No mower bashing, I have it in the middle of a really big mulch ring. As for the top it hasn't leafed out yet, all does look fine though. The limbs are about 3 1/2 feet off the ground at the lowest point, so, not much chance of anything buy the smallest critters getting to munching on it, it has a nice root flare,so no "telephone poling" I'll get a pic as soon as I can of the whole tree. The buds are swollen, it won't be long before leafout. All is fine BUT that bark coming off and the "moldy" look of the wood under the bark. BTW, I have NOT given it a mulch volcano EVER, so No critters hiding in winter and munching on the trunk.

Okay, Thanks beng, I hadn't known about Black oaks having decay issues near the base. Mine is pretty young, but, I guess age doesn't matter.

I share your concern, poaky. I'd be sad as well to see a beloved tree like that die. Let's hope it will recover in time. Keep us posted!

Hi again Norbert, I think I had talked to you on another subject here on GW. I will take a pic of the whole tree once I get a chance, Jean above asked me to post a pic. The top seems fine though. .

I'm going to post a pic of the whole tree. It won't help with my question, but, just to show what a nice shape it has, in my opinion anyway.

Excuse my weeds, but that circle is usually weed free and mulched, the rain and time constraints have me behind on weed control etc. BUT, you can see how nice it's shaped. I'll keep you guys updated on the wound. It hasn't leafed out yet, the big trees over the hill are the neighbors Silver Maples and they leaf out early. But, the buds are swollen on the oak, so it is alive and well so far.

One man’s weeds are another...well, you know. That is a shapely tree. It’s tough to lose a tree you planted and have watched grow. Was there a previous wound to the left of the current one?

As far as wounds go I just noticed the current wound. I never saw any wounds until the day before I started this thread. The left of the wound is a kinda "column" looking bunch of wood that I guessed was an extension of the root that is below it. I have another tree with a much thinner version of the same thing. I can take a picture of THAT some time to show what I mean. I have what I THINK is a Compton's oak, you can see the "tube" looking thing on the trunk THEN see the root going into the soil. I think it's a "rootflare" type of thing.

Poaky, not a whole lot you can do, but I have had that happen to me, I sprayed some copper fungicide in there a couple time during the year to keep nasties from growing and mine healed nicely ...however seems like older trees take a bit longer but I'm only guessing

Hey Joe, my tree is pretty young, in case you haven't read the whole spew here, it's about 16 years old, give or take a year or so. I think I have copper fungicide already in my basement, I bought it to spray my Windmill palm ( the one that died previous to my new purchase of another one) to stop fungus from getting on the one I covered in the winter before last. I hadn't used it all, I'll try spraying the wound down good. Well, once it stops raining, we had a break today, BUT, it was 92F in my mom's car and MY indoor outdoor temp gauge thing said 88F. We've gone into spring early this year, BUT, I'm sure IF I plant my tomatoes and peppers, we'll get a cold snap that will kill them. Later. Thanks for the info Joe.

I just found my Copper Fungicide. I was wondering, is there a chance I could be harming the tree using that stuff? I've heard that copper can kill a tree, BUT, maybe that is just copper sulfate? And the little bit of copper in the spray won't harm the tree. I know it worked fine for you Joe, BUT, I'm just worried since it will be on the layer where it could soak in. They've used copper nails to kill trees also, BUT, this is just a spray with less than 1% copper according to the label. I guess it is fine, BUT, it has on the directions to use on the leaves of plants. It doesn't mention applying to trunks or stems of plants. Maybe I;ll go and look for a non copper bases fungicide, just to be safe. Joe, what type of plant had you used Copper Fungicide on? I am just afraid to kill my tree. I'm going to get a non copper fungicide to be safe.

I kind of answered my own question for myself, BUT, anyone have any real facts about that from experience in a situation where copper fungicide DID kill a plant?

I don't know if Joe just got lucky that his tree wasn't harmed. Sorry Joe, not to poo poo your advice, BUT, I am just afraid to chance it, even as weak a amount of copper in the spray.