Slime Flux - Bacterial Wetwood (Slime Flux Disease)

Slime flux, often called bacterial wet-wood, is a bacterial disease found in many different types of trees. In some trees, particularly willow, this disease results in a white to gray foam that bubbles out from under the bark. In other cases, as with elm and cottonwood, infection results in wet gray to brown areas on limbs and trunk. In the latter case, the slime runs down the bark, discoloring plant tissues and resulting in a build-up of dry scum. Slime flux (wetwood) is a bacterial fermentation of tree tissue, resulting in the disagreeable odor associated with this problem.

Sherman V. Thomson/Extension Plant Pathologist
Scott C. Ockey/Plant Disease Diagnostician