can I stop fir pitch from oozing out of large above ground roots by painting

Question

I have a very large fir tree w/large interesting looking roots (above ground) in my yard. My kids like to play on them but get covered in pitch. I was thinking I could paint them with some kind of strong primer to cover the pitch. Would this work, and if so, could you suggest a good product for this idea?
Thank you,
NBT

Answer 1

Sap typically oozes from open wounds on the tree. I suspect that the roots are getting nicked and the sap is coming from those wounds – it could actually be happening due to the kids playing on it. It won’t hurt the tree, but does make a mess. Painting could help stop the current wounds from oozing, but would not likely stop future wounds from occurring. In other words, you are likely to find yourself right back to having oozing issues in just a few months.

I don’t like to recommend painting wounds on a tree as this can actually trap disease in a wound. So rather than healing clean, they can get infected and fester, causing issues.