Two trees "joined at hip", one no longer has leaves

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Peter20

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FrontDual.JPGRearDual.JPG
In the large picture, the tree on the right with the moss no longer has leaves. The trunk on the left does has leaves and flowers. The tree on the right has wetness, I'm guess sap coming from a section higher up where the branch diverts. I'm seeing small ants on the sick tree, what I would call "sugar ants", definitely not carpenter ants.

We're new to this house, and gave gone a full season without seeing leaves on the sick tree. We thought they might be different species, but now we wonder if they are the same just that one of them is dead.

We'd like to save the good tree. Is this possible? How would I go about doing that?

Thanks
 
"Joined at the hip"--not really. Just very close neighbors.

Hard to tell from your photos, but they might be same species. Looks like cherry from a distance. Regardless, they appear to be two separate trees. So you can remove the one without affecting the other, if you know how to do it. If you don't, find someone who can.

For further consult, it would help to show the upper parts of the two.
 
I'll get more pictures.

I know how to fell a tree, but don't know if there's anything special to do with them so close.

Is it better to leave a 1' stump, or do a cut as close to the ground as possible? I'd assume you'd eave all the roots alone.
 
For removing the one without hurting the other, make your felling cuts high enough that your saw can come between the two trees without cutting the keeper tree. Once you've dropped the main portion, you can cut another chunk or two from the stump without the weight of the tree pinching your saw. But a high stump or low stump will be the same thing in the end.
 
Thanks for the pointers. If it's past any hope to save it, I guess it's got to be taken out. Here's a closeup up of the leaves, the white flowers just started falling off. Also another photo from a distance, the good tree on the right and the dead one on the left. I'm assuming it's dead, there no such thing as dormant? There is still some sap coming out from half way up the tree. closeUpLeaves.JPGTreeNextToDead.JPG
 
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