What is coming out tells you most of it. A wet, dark, slimy streak running down from a crack, an old pruning wound, or a branch crotch, drying gray or tan, sometimes smelling sour or fermented, with flies and wasps working it. White or tan foam bubbling out of the bark in hot weather. Clear sticky sap or amber blobs, especially with sawdust-like frass or a hole at the center. Dark rusty, oily-looking streaks running down from a sunken area of bark, where cutting the bark shows reddish-brown discolored tissue underneath. Note the location too: from the root flare, from a wound, or from apparently nowhere.
Within weeks
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Fluid leaving a trunk means internal pressure plus a path out, and what it means depends entirely on which of the above you have. Bacterial wetwood, or slime flux, is a chronic fermentation in the heartwood that builds gas pressure and pushes liquid out through any opening — unsightly, hard on the grass it runs onto, essentially untreatable, and carried by many trees for decades without decline. It is not a reason to remove a tree. Alcoholic or foamy flux is a seasonal yeast fermentation in stressed sapwood and usually passes. Sap with frass means an insect is inside. Dark bleeding from a sunken canker means an active pathogen is killing bark and cambium, and that one carries a real prognosis. Two of the four are essentially cosmetic; two are not.
This is normally a hazardous tree removal job, which around here runs $800 to $5,000 depending on size and access. Treat that as a range, not a quote — nobody can price it without seeing it.
1744 Sugar Creek Trail, Greenfield, IN 46140
“We were so grateful for Gaddie’s Tree Service. They are fabulous!!!! We had to wait do bad rainy weather, but once Gaddie’s got here they took care…”
BJ Cheesman · a year ago · Google
2067 Sunshine Dr, Greenfield, IN 46140
“We had a few things updated/upgraded on our property and cannot say enough good things about Doctor Tree & Landscape Specialists. They are truly…”
Brian Cross · a year ago · Google
5067 W US Hwy 40, Greenfield, IN 46140
“This company is very courteous and friendly. They are prompt and fast at what they do. I had three large silver lead maples trimmed, seven dead ash…”
Zach Bailey · 7 years ago · Google
52 525W, Greenfield, IN 46140
“Had a tree fall on my home, my mother knew one of the employees (Conner) he got in touch with Scott who came from near Indy all the way to Fort Wayne…”
Jacquelin Clark · 4 years ago · Google
646 S 600 W Building #5, New Palestine, IN 46163
“This is the second time we have hired Holmes for tree work at our home. A few years ago they removed a tree that was too close to our home and did an…”
Jennifer Kost-Barker · 2 months ago · Google
4621 S Brooklawn Dr, New Palestine, IN 46163
“I was fortunate to have Shawn Miller replace a large three in one window in my residence. He was extremely thorough removing the exterior cement…”
Ric Vega · 5 years ago · Google
1768 W 900 N, Fortville, IN 46040
“Pro Finish did a great job for us. Jesse was a great communicator, and his crew was professional and easy to work with. We had three trees in the…”
James Barnard · 3 months ago · Google
6041 Middle Dr, Indianapolis, IN 46235
“This company helped my business finish a huge landscape job that we needed a professional arborist for. They filled my call, got me a quote within…”
Integrity Lawns · a year ago · Google
7427 W San Marco Dr, Fortville, IN 46040
“I want to leave a review for this business for the outstanding job they did. From the time I first contacted them till the very end everyone was…”
S Martin · a year ago · Google
12732 Castilla Pl, Indianapolis, IN 46236
“I woke up on Tue Apr 28 to find a 50 foot tree uprooted and leaning against my house, making creaking noises and threatening to crash through the…”
James McDougall · 3 months ago · Google
9618 Pepperidge Dr, Indianapolis, IN 46235
“Saw an ad on Instagram and didn’t expect much, but boy was I wrong! I was immediately contacted and put on the schedule at my earliest convenience…”
Cassidy Conn · 2 months ago · Google
507 S Post Rd, Indianapolis, IN 46239
“I give this company 10 stars!! We had turned in the fact that this huge tree at the NW end of a church's lot prevented drivers from safely crossing…”
Amy L. Allison · a month ago · Google
Distance measured from Greenfield.