Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar disease?

I am an urban girl recently introduced to the world of gardening after we moved into a house with an acre of land last year. One of my favorite trees is the weeping blue atlas cedar. Last year, I noticed a sappy residue on this tree. There was some cracking and dark spots on the bark but I didn't know if it was something to be concerned about since the tree looked healthy. This summer, I noticed more sappy residue, lots more cracks, and some of the drooping branches coming off one of the 3 main branches are browning and losing needles. I've been trimming the brown branches off but more keep coming off. It looks like the main branch is getting choked because the middle of the branch is dying and it's starting to spread through the entire limb working to the edge.

I did some research and think it might be weevils or some kind of insect but I've never seen any insects on the tree. What do I do? It's beg of August now and I'm wondering if I call an insecticide company to spray or do I need to cut the entire main limb (It will make me very sad to do so)? What will save it? As you can see from the pictures, the tree looks healthy otherwise.

 

More likely to be a fungal disease than insects. Another more likely possibility is delayed response to winter cold damage; Atlas Cedar is very marginal in NJ. Also - does that road behind it get salted in winter? Cedars are sensitive to road salt.

 

The road is my driveway and we shovel it ourselves (no salt). I've added some new close-ups to the branch in question. If you look closely, you will see some resin/sappy things along the cracked bark. What do you think? Still fungal disease? What do I do then?

 

That looks like radiation frost damage - the upper side facing the sky gets colder than the protected underside. The bark death then results in resin bleeding.

There could of course be secondary colonisation of the dead wood by fungi.

 

How would I be able to determine if it's frost or fungi?

Also what should I do to protect from frost or remediate the frost problem? It was a really bad and long winter in jersey last year.

If its fungi, is the tree doomed? What should I do to stop it from spreading and hurting the tree?

 

Unlikely any fungi will spread. Not a lot you can do to alleviate damage already done; if it survives, regard it as a bonus. For future winters, can you build a portable greenhouse that you can wheel over the tree on nights when severe cold (below about -20°C) is forecast?

 

Wrapping the stems prior to coldest periods might make a difference.

 

Thanks. I'm off today so I'll check out the garden center for wraps. I was worried last winter as snow storms followed ice storms last winter.

So if a fungi hit the tree, there's not much to do?

Thanks for all the help.