Wetwood of elm and other trees

Bacterial wetwood - sometimes called slime flux - is a water-soaked condition of wood, occurring in the trunk, branches and roots of many shade and ornamental trees and more often trees over ten years old.  Wetwood is most prevalent in Siberian and American Elm but can attack numerous other trees.

Symptoms:

• The disease occurs in the crotches or where there are wounds on trees.
• Symptoms are a bleeding or seeping of foul-smelling slime from cracks and wounds in the wood flowing down the bark. As it dries, a light grey to white incrustation is left.
• Most wetwood in the large branches or trunks of trees appears confined to a discoloured control zone and to the innermost sapwood free of discolouration but may extend almost to the cambium in wounded stems.

Control:

• Wetwood is not generally deadly and will not kill a healthy tree but trees that are already stressed, old, or weakened from poor or compacted soils may experience dieback in the affected branch or across multiple branches. Over time, these losses could eventually kill an already weakened tree.
• There is no control for the disease nor preventative treatment to avoid the initial infection and eventual development of bacterial wetwood. Methods that reduce the tree's internal pressure are no longer recommended treatments and should be avoided.
• To prevent wetwood avoid wounding your tree, maintain your soil health and avoid soil compaction.

For more information see:

Bacterial Wetwood (Slime Flux)

Bacterial Wetwood or Slime Flux