Garden Pests and Diseases: Grancy Greybeard has ooze and bugs - what to do?, 0 by Hershey54

Hershey54 wrote:
I noticed a few dead leaves around my Grancy Greybeard this morning. Since I've lived here 11 years and never had any issues with it, I walked over to see what the problem is... I found a dark section about 8 inches long along one of the limbs. It has a lot of small bugs and ants crawling in it. It also has a sickly sweet smell like rotting fruit. The limbs that come from this area are either yellowing or have dead leaves.
When I went back out to take photos, I noticed the back side of this section seems to be effected too - which makes me think the problem goes all the way through this section. There are several places where limbs have been broken off (my kids love trying to climb this tree, regardless of my threats!) So I am pretty sure the beginning was a split limb, however, what do I do now? This is my favorite tree and we take family photos in front of it EVERY spring!
My question is this: What do I do to save the plant??? I don't know if I should treat the area (or what to use) or if I should cut that section off - and if I do what do I do to heal / protect the section to prevent further damage?

2018 Update: I wound up cutting that section of the tree off. It was dying anyway and the bark was damaged all around that area by the bugs. I sprayed the area with a bug spray to keep the bugs out of the tree. Cut that section of the tree out, several inches below the damage. Then I literally painted a coating (don't recall what kind) over the exposed wood to help protect it from further infestation.
We have since moved, but last time I drove by, the tree was still there.

This message was edited Jul 11, 2018 12:19 PM