Any ideas what this is??

[ukminch]

As the title suggests, I took this photo a little while ago on a tree I was quoting to remove, never seen anything like it before

[ukminch]

The sort of gooey stuff in the middle of the picture sorry. R

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I would suggest this is a combination of frass, rain water, sap and possibly a little bacterial action, is their a possible included region?

[ukminch]

Sorry what do you mean included region?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Included region is where two parts of a tree come into contact through growth expansion and press one against the other, forming a region that is then "included" where bark to bark contact is made and often concealed by adaptive growth.

 

often from above it is clear to see a small "soil" pocket at such points, this soil often has a unique flora associated with it and often decends into the "included region" where anaeorobic conditions (oxygen less atmosphere) persist and cause that "foul stench" that you get when cutting into rot holes or pockets and sometimes, included regions. the bacteria often genberate pressure which then forces out soil particles and sap/ooze like in your image, isnt always a negative, but does reqiure a bit more than just a peak!

[ukminch]

Thanks for the reply and quite possible yes then, there is a large limb (same size as rest of tree) coming off at an angle here, the bark looks like it goes all the way round, but it is cracking as though the limb is starting to come off.

 

If it wasn't down for a removal I'd be getting somebody to survey it for me, but as it is and the anchor point won't be on that limb doesn't seem to be a major issue, but I was curious.

 

R

[TArrryan]

is that your climbing line or is there a rope/cord entering the tree just above the included section! possibly a contributing factor?

[ukminch]

is that your climbing line or is there a rope/cord entering the tree just above the included section! possibly a contributing factor?

 

It's my climbing line, I'm just a very slow climber so it's grown over it:001_tt2: