On Sun, 01 Jun 2014 14:18:54 +0100
Chris Hogg wrote:

On Sun, 1 Jun 2014 13:09:29 +0100, Davey
wrote:

I'm not a gardener by nature, whereas my wife is, but our willow tree
has what looks like a load of dried sap coming out of a spot on the
trunk about 4 feet off the ground, forming a small solid waterfall
effect, and there are several ants crawling around it. The waterfall
is about 4 inches in height.

Maybe it's an internal ant nest? If so, is it bad for the tree, and
how to treat it if it is?
Otherwise, I can't find what it is, so any help welcome.

Is there a good website to ID such problems? All that I have looked
at haven't helped.


A picture might help diagnosis. Don't post it directly here but to a
picture-hosting site such as tinypic http://www.tinypic.com/ and then
post a link here.

I doubt there's an ants' nest in there. Sounds like some sort of
canker, possibly cytospora, and the ants are just feeding on the sap
weeping from the lesion. I don't think there's a cure.


Yep, took a picture this morning, I'll post it on dropbox later today,
and I'll post the link here.
There is a small bulge above it, which might support the canker idea.

--
Davey.

Thanks for reply.