do oak trees exude resin?

[the naturelover]

Hi. do or can oak trees exude resin?. I noticed this at this time last year and its back again on the same very old oak tree. it is extremely hard and crystaline. it took a great effort with a sharp knife to cut off a small section of the surface. inside it is a pink honeycomb. i can't see any damage on the tree and certainly not in the area surrounding this. There is a further large lump on the ground several feet away from the trunk. Can anyone offer an explanation or should I just keep on taking the pills? regards tn.

[The Woodman]

Hi naturelover

Oak trees do not produce resin, it's mostly conifers that do that - there are some broadleaf species like plum that do.

I might be wrong here but I think what you are looking at has been produced by the hand of man. It appears to me that the substance is, or similar to, expanding foam. Hence the blob at a distance from the tree. This stuff is squirted from a pressurised can and is commonly used for filling voids e.g. around window frames.

Your image 1071 is pretty much as it is when it's cured to a hard mass with a honeycomb like structure.

You say you saw it last year at this time of year. Could it have been there ever since you first saw it?

In 1074 there are visible bubbles and "splash" marks on the bark close to the mass. there are also small chips of bark on the surface potentially indicating that its been there a while. Old leaves from last year too although they could have blown there.

The more I look at it, the more I think it's expanding foam.

I could be entirely wrong.

[brendaward]

I dont think it is expanding foam. Have seen something similar on a cherry tree and it was a fungus that had eaten its way through the trunk of the tree.

[The Woodman]

You've just reminded me that cherries produce resin too.

I've never seen anything like it (apart from expanding foam!).

[Stomatopod]

I agree with the woodman. Looks like cavity insulating foam. Why someone would squirt it into an oak is beyond me?? Maybe they (wrongly) thought they could prvent rot holes killing the tree by filling them?

[brendaward]

But the Naturelover said it was pink honeycomb colour inside, expanding foam retains it's orange colour inside and can easily be cut off by a knife. The similar growths that I had on the cherry were about two feet away as well as the bark, extruding from a slightly exposed root. The bleeding? looked like expanding foam and were extremely hard and impossible to break off without a knife. A friend identified it as honey fungus so the tree was felled. The trunk was completely hollow down to the root. The tree went to a local artist who made it into a lighted wine rack so it was not wasted.

[The Woodman]

I agree with your description of the normal expanding foam colour, brendaward, the usual stuff is what I would call yellow and dull to an orangey hue with age. It is easy to cut with a knife but can be very strong with a crust too. There are other expanding foams out there with specific purposes, I've seen one in a two barrel syringe, the components mixing as the plunger is depressed. The texture is what I would call small bubbles rather than honeycomb but that's semantics!

I've dealt with honey fungus - Armillaria mellea - often and eaten the fruiting bodies (Please don't use my ID here for safety reasons). The tree is infected by underground spreading rhizomorphs attaching themselves to the roosts and eventually spreading to the trunk and girdling the tree under the bark. Hence the popular name of Bootlace fungus as that's what they look like. The spreading rhizomorphs and invading mycelium under the bark of an infected tree can be seen by carefully removing a section of bark. The fruiting bodies - toadstools - grow usually from the base of the tree and can form large clumps. I've never seen any other form of manifestation.

Knobbly root growths can sometimes be seen on surface roosts on a lawn where they've been damaged by mowing repeatedly. Any wound can allow spores of pathogens to enter and some trees react by producing resin to seal the wound.

[Deb London]

Wondered if it might be/have been a 'slime flux'. From what I remember, the resulting discharge can solidify, but don't quote me on it.

[Besnard Lake]

Hello Deb,

It could be slime flux. Bacterial wetwood, as it forces itself out of the tree, fizzes and bubbles. If this solidifies then I suppose it might explain the honeycomb centre. Expanding foam is also an option. What does it smell like?

Regards

Bes

[The Woodman]

How often have you come across slime flux, Besnard? I've never seen it. Fascinating - more research for me!