What's wrong with my tree?

yes, its bleeding to death, if I were you, I would call a tree care service or nursery & ask them for advice

I agree, have an arborist take a look at it to make sure it is staying healthy and to make sure it won't cause the tree death and have it fall.

Thanks! I will look into it.

Actually, the tree is trying to heal itself. The sap is covering the wound just like blood will create the scaffolding for scar tissue on your own body. Before you invest in an arborist and possibly spend money that you MAY not need to spend, I would watch the bark for infestations of insects of insects or fungus. If you get see that, then call an arborist. Also, look at the general health of the tree. If it is not losing an abnormal amount of leaves, then it is fine. The gash in the bark should heal itself in a year or two. Again, keep an eye on the gash. If it gets wider, THEN contact an arborist.

I had a tree that looked like that ..had be damaged by lightning

I had a tree in my yard that was doing the same thing. I told my husband that there was something wrong with the tree and it had to come down. He refused. We had a very rough storm come through in the summer and it put the tree right on top of our house. When the tree guy came to take it down he was getting COVERED with CARPENTER ANTS. The tree was infested with them. After he cut it, you could see that the tree was practically hollow inside and that is why it came down. Seriously consider getting an arborist in. We were lucky, the tree came down very gently and only squished a couple of shingles. It could have been much worse. Get that expert in, don't wait.

I am not a tree expert, but twice we have had a tree removed against advice of the arborist telling us they were fine. Why? Because instinct kicked in and warned us they were too close to our house to take a chance.

One that was about 70' tall and not more than 25 ft. from the corner of our house only had limbs left at the top. Arborist said "leave it, it is fine"...hubs said "take it down." The tree was 2' across and only about 3" around the outside edge was viable...the rest was black.

The second tree was huge and again about 20' from the front of the house and was leaning to the side. The storm Irma took out the center down onto the power lines. The Arborist had told us, "that tree will be standing when both of us are gone!" I am just glad only the center came down and toward the street instead of our house! The limbs on the inside were black!!!

We live in a heavily wooded area and have suffered lack of rain for years until recently. Too many trees around are sick. Any tree near your house showing signs of being sick should be taken down.

P.S. Check local ordinance...there are rules on everything!!!!

We have a tree that looks just like yours. We witnessed it being struck by a bolt of lightning four years ago.

Most of the elm trees around here have been cut down because of dutch elm disease. They used to line all of our city streets, but now are all gone.

It's not just if the tree is near your house that you have to worry. If the tree looms over a side street, a neighbor's house or yard, or driveways, you really must get it checked out. Imagine how you would feel if the tree fell and hurt someone.

I had a couple of large maple trees that looked this way--both were infested with carpenter ants or termites, and were nearly hollow inside.