On Wed, 4 Jun 2014 23:43:36 +0100
"Nick" wrote:


"Davey" wrote in message
...
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.

--
Davey.

I hope you are successful in identifying and solving this. You'll get
good advice from the folk hereabouts.
Sadly, I lost a magnificent weeping willow as a result of flooding
and high winds earlier this year.

The dear old thing did go out with some style.
Its foundations, weakened by very high water, succumbed to high winds
and toppled over.
On the journey it demolished 2 walls, a street light, a flagpole,
several smaller trees and part of the roof of a building across the
flooded lane. It blocked the lane for 3 days.
Clearance was finished a couple of weeks later with the assistance of
some excellent tree surgeons and a 170T crane.
The tree was measured at 108ft high. After removing the small bits,
they reckon the big bits amounted to about 23 tons.
The root ball, which fell back to soggy earth, was measured at 10ft
dia. The bole is a bit over 4ft dia.
This has started to shoot again. I don't know whether to leave it or
not. It can never have its old and good footing.
Have posted some pics here. Possibly.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/n1py0n0db...1sAk1px03_AgIa

Good luck,
Nick.



Thanks for the thoughts. This one is nothing like as big as that, but I
do remember bringing it home standing upright and poking out through
the car's sunroof. I certainly couldn't do that now.

--
Davey.