Thanks for your comments. We are in an area that has oak wilt problems. Its been about 10 days since the incident. I'll paint the sound, but do you recommend we have some special treatment as well? Is that something I can do? What do you call that treatment? Thanks again.Are you in an area with heavy oak wilt problems? If so, paint that wound within 72 hours after it happened. Even latex or spray paint will work. Just trying to mask the volatiles being released so bugs don't find it. If oak wilt is real bad there, might be worth having the tree treated just this time.
If there is no known oak wilt in the area, just leave it alone. That is not that bad of a wound.... not good...but not that bad.
Interesting that you mention about white oaks being less likely to be affected by oak wilt. A few years ago we had a few trees in taken down for landscaping purposes. At that time, this same tree was losing a few leaves mid summer. We asked the contractor doing the work if it might be oak wilt and he said that they were less likely to be affected. I'll see if I can find someone locally that can do that treatment. Thanks for your advice. Greatly appreciated.Too late to paint it. That is only helpful within 72 hours.
The treatment is with an injection of Propiconazole. That is best done by a professional.
Argument for doing it: help preserve the tree after an untimely injury.
Argue against: White Oak deal with a quilt much better than Red Oak...