Norfolk Island Pine

[Joe]

Have a Norfolk Island Pine that is about 10ft high with a trunk of

1.75" here in Bay Area of Northern California. The tree seems to be healthy with lots of new growth. So, the issue is that there is a fair amount of sap that oozes from the side if the trunk that gets the greatest amount of sun exposure. Not so much in the winter but in the summer it seems to be more prevalent. Tried covering the trunk with a screen in the summer and that seems to help. Is this something that I should be concerned about???

Thanks,

Joe

[Stephen Henning]

You probably have either a borer and the sap is coming out of a hole created by a borer or you have bark split.

There is no single reason for bark splitting on trees. Excessively late growth in the fall stimulated by warm temperatures, high humidity, and high nitrogen levels can increase susceptibility of trees to bark split.

Fluctuating growth conditions may also cause splitting of bark. Dry weather (which slows growth) followed by wet or ideal growth conditions may cause an excessive or vigorous amount of growth leading to splits in the bark.

[Chuckie]

You could possibly have problem with bugs or larva in the trunk. You could try spraying the tree with sevin in the late spring. Chuckie in the frozen north zone 5

[Stephen Henning]

Be advised that spraying with Sevin can cause very bad mite problems!

Sevin kills the parasites that control mites.

[David Hare-Scott]

It is not a problem with too much sun. This sort of thing is quite common with these trees, as others have said it could be a borer and in such a small tree this could cause quite a bit of damage. Look for a hole under the ooze and for sawdust nearby. if you find a hole insert a bit of wire and munch the borer. If no hole don't worry it will probably be OK.

David

[pita6155]

I was wondering the same thing about the sap. There is this beautiful Norfolk pine that is in the miniature golf course in Castro Valley CA. (BAY AREA) This tree is gorgeous but it has sap all over the Trunk, we're talking tons of sap all over, harden bubbles of sap break them open and white creamy stuff comes out. The tree looks to be healthy if there's a way to post pictures on here I'll sure be happy to do that. This tree is so trippy with the amount of sap and the forms the sap makes.