Sick White Oak

[Magicman]

I have a 25" DBH White Oak in my yard that has developed something that I don't like.  Starting about 18" up from the ground it is weeping.  The ground below this spot is actually puddled up with a sweet smelling liquid that is attracting all sorts of insects.  There is a 3/8" hole where some sort of insect bored through, but that is down low.  The tree is leaking more than a foot higher. 

It looks like the moisture (sap) is just coming through the bark.

Otherwise the tree appears to be healthy.

[Ron Scott]

May be one of the oak bores. Red oak or white oak bore. The red oak bore will also attack white oak.

[WDH]

It most certainly has butt rot and that is probably the source of the fluid as funky things are going on inside.  Even so, trees with butt rot can live to a ripe old age, so maybe this one will do fine.  Otherwise, I see some quartersawn white oak in your future.  But, I am optimistic that if you are sawing quartersawn white oak soon, it is because you are doing it somewhere else for a customer.

[Dodgy Loner]

I know that condition very well. That is slime flux, caused by a bacterial infection of the heartwood. There is no cure for the disease, and in fact the disease is very unlikely to harm the tree's health because it only affects the dead heartwood. The gases and fluids build pressure as the microbes ferment the sugars in the heartwood, and eventually that pressure works its way to the surface, where it is released as a slimy, sometimes foamy exudate. It often smells bad, and it attracts a variety of insects. If you have ever sawed an oak that smelled like dog urine, it was likely caused by a bacterial infection. The wood is often still perfectly usable, even decades after the infection begins, but eventually you'll get some other microbes in the mix that will rot heart of the tree.

[Magicman]

I hope that this White Oak last a long time.  It is a "property line" tree that provides me with an abundance of shade.

[Phorester]

Dodgy's on the right track, but what you describe is alcholic flux rather than slime flux.  Very similar - I sometimes state one when meaning the other. You're lucky - you got the sweet smelling one.  Slime flux has a very foul odor.  Except for the major difference of odor, both are the same as far as control; there is none, as Dodgy says.  You can try washing it off periodically to discourage insects.