How to Remove Excess Sap from a Pine Tree Trunk
Pine sap is a headache when it drips onto your car, deck or clothes. By scraping the excess sap off your pine tree, you'll help to prevent such mishaps. In the spring and summer, the sap in pine trees starts to flow freely, and extra sap flows when the bark has a deep scratch, or the tree has sustained an injury. In addition, sometimes insects will burrow through the bark and sap will ooze through the hole. Unless the pine tree has sustained damage, bugs or disease, pine sap leaking out is not harmful to the tree. But when the sap drips onto cars, decks or clothing, it is very hard to remove. Scraping the sap away will prevent this from happening and make your tree look better. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Check the area where the sap is flowing for any signs of damage. Broken or recently removed branches or damage from insects burrowing inside the tree can will cause an excessive amount of sap.
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Hold the scraper at a perpendicular angle to the trunk and scrape the pine sap away. Be careful to not scrape the bark away from the tree. Drop the pine sap into a bucket lined with a plastic bag for easy disposal.
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Remove dried, hardened sap by hitting the scraper handle with your hammer and driving the scraper into the sap, then prying the sap away from the tree with the hammer. Be careful not to gouge the tree trunk.
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Wash the tools in hot water with a special pine and tar remover sold at most gardening centers, then disinfect with alcohol. If a disease caused the excess sap, you do not want to spread it by using infected tools. Be sure to rinse your tools well, then dry them so they do not rust.
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