I live near Vancouver BC. I have a 60 foot Norwegian Maple that we planted about 16 years ago. Over the last 5 years ....a very cold winter in 2008?....the tree has developed a goitre at the base, about 10 inches off the ground.. I did not notice it as the area was covered in underplanting. The qoitre is about 12 inches high 7 inches across and about 4 inches deep. The tree has a girth of 36 inches at the goitre. Our resident local tree expert said I should clean the area with 1% bleech solution and then pack the hole with cement. This will 'fool' the tree into reacting as if the area was healing and so will not continue to weep inside the goiter or get larger. What do you think? John
Suggested remedy sounds nonsensical. It would be better if you expanded on your description of the aberrant part of the tree. It's an oozing hole?
The goitre area is wet to the touch and black inside almost as if it was scorched....but it wasn't. The bark inside the goitre will come away if scraped. Other than this ghastly looking gash, the tree looks very good, with healthy leaves all the way to the top. There is some tufted moss on branches. Another recommendation was to bash in a few fertilizer spikes around to 'drip line' (?) which for this tree is about 15 feet out from the trunk. Thanx for the first thread. I'm usually just the labour in our garden. John
Sounds like it might be some decay, which could potentially make the tree dangerous, particularly if any decay extends down into the roots. Can you post some photos? Fertiliser won't help at all.
