Knowledgebase

Wye River White Oak #878800

Asked July 25, 2024, 6:57 PM EDT

Is this piece of history of the Wye River, White Oak Tree Ok?

Anne Arundel County Maryland

Expert Response

The oozing liquid is probably a phenomenon called slime flux or wetwood, and it's not too uncommon. As the linked page mentions, there are no curative treatments, but you can have a certified arborist or licensed tree expert examine the tree for indications of any problems that might be overlapping with it.

The leaf symptom pictured (fine pale speckling) is called stippling, and is created by sap-feeding insects. In this case, it could be due to leafhoppers, but more commonly on oak, it is due to Oak Lace Bug. Lace bugs sometimes cause much heavier stippling than this when populations are high, but even then, they do not cause significant or long-term damage to the tree, and do not need treatment. You'll find them on the underside of the leaves with feeding damage, usually clustered together, though sometimes juveniles are quite small, or they may be between generations (or have moved on to another leaf) when you inspect leaves and only eggs might be present instead. If you're curious, you can see (many) more photos of lace bugs of all types, plus read a bit about their general biology, in an Ohio State article about this insect group published last summer: "Lousy with Lace Bugs."

If you were wondering, the butterfly pictured feeding on the sugary liquid is a Red Admiral, and this is a great example of the food sources this species often seeks -- rotting or ripe fruits and oozing tree sap, and only occasionally flowers.

Miri

Loading ...