Why are overhanging hickory trees spraying sticky sap on my deck.?

Question

I live in Minnesota and have had the same trees and deck for 15 years. This summer I've had a horrid sticky mess on my deck. Its like a fine film of sugar water all over the deck that turns black and moldy after a while. Its so bad that shoes stick to the deck. What is it and why now and not in other years? Its driving me crazy. I could scrub the deck every day and not stay ahead of the game. Our trees are mostly "bitternut" hickories, sometimes called ironwood trees. We also have a few green ash. Any help will be appreciated. I'm ready to cut down the trees.

Answer 1

aphids secrete honeydew.  black sooty mold grows on it.  

Answer 2

Why cut them down when you can just prune them?

Cut the really thick branches off, and then train the thinner boughs to point in other directions by tying them off with rope.

Answer 3

Is it feasible and practical for you to trim all the trees back so that they are not overhanging your deck.  It would be a shame to cut them down.  Like maple trees, hickory trees have (and still are) a source of syrup with its own distinct taste.

However, hickory syrup is a sugary syrup flavored by an extract of the bark of Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), not bitternut. The bark is gathered, extracted, strained and aged.  Bitternuts produce the sticky sap, too, a fact that you can attest to, huh?

Environmental conditions can affect the yield of sugar (sucrose).  Trees grown with adequate moisture and fertilizer produce higher yields than trees in infertile soil and dry conditions. Sap yield is also lower if leaves are defoliated in the previous season. Trees with an exposed crown produce greater amounts of sap than trees grown under crowded conditions - presumably because of the advantage due to photosynthesis. Too, you have to take into account the new-found facts about "climate change". Evidence strongly suggests that our global climate is changing. Climate models suggest that winters in the Great Lakes region will likely be warmer and wetter in years to come. One advantage (or disadvantage, in your case) of this warming trend is that it could extend the region of maple syrup production further west in the state. Currently Minnesota is on the western edge of the range for sugar maple trees. Sooo...that said, if your trees were to be kept dryer, not fertilized, shaded by other trees, and radically trimmed of excess foliage around the perimeter, they wouldn't produce as much sticky, sap deposits on your deck.

Answer 4

    There is a product made by Bayer that stops this sticky mess.  You just spray it on the tree.  Go to your local nursery and ask about it.

Answer 5

I would prune them back a little bit or get a sap decreaser.

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