ID Help Please - Found on Ash

[Tom@EVA]

I didn't have a camera with me so i removed this from the tree and took photo at home... can anyone ID it please?

 

Searched internet, could be Phellinus Robustus ... conk

 

But can't find any info on it. What does it do and what should be done about it?

 

Thanks

 

First one is outside, second is the inside

[Fungus]

Searched internet, could be Phellinus Robustus ... But can't find any info on it. What does it do and what should be done about it?

 

Tom,

Could well be Phellinus robustus, which is a biotrophic parasite, causing mostly relatively slow developing white rot of the heartwood of the tree, but without information on the colour of the spores and checking microscopical characteristics, from a photo alone 100 % certain identification is not possible.

[Tom@EVA]

Thanks Fungus. That was the closest looking thing i could find picture wise on the internet but cant seem to find any info on it... what would be a probable/possible prognosis if it is that? You said its a slow developing white rot of the heartwood. If there are only a couple of them on the stem what sort of damage has it/will it do, what sort of time scales are we talking and what would be the best course of action for the tree? Thanks again.

[Fungus]

... what would be a probable/possible prognosis if it is that? You said its a slow developing white rot of the heartwood. If there are only a couple of them on the stem what sort of damage has it/will it do, what sort of time scales are we talking and what would be the best course of action for the tree?

 

Tom,

The decomposition strategies of the same species of fungi vary with the tree species, that is to say, Phellinus robustus is a fast white rotter and extremely dangerous on Quercus rubra (see photo) and a slow white rotter of Q. robur, with which the annualy thin layers on the perennial brackets producing mycelium "grows old" together and that is why you can drive nails into wood with a bracket "harvested" from Q. robur. And because the mycelium of biotrophic parasites, like Phellinus species, can not switch to a saprotrophic phase once the tree is dead and falls, it does not invest in a fast decomposition of the wood, as it wants to also be active in the cambium for as long as possible to survive itself. So the better the quality of the heartwood of a tree species, the less damage is done on the short run.

[David Humphries]

Tom,

The decomposition strategies of the same species of fungi vary with the tree species, that is to say, Phellinus robustus is a fast white rotter and extremely dangerous on Quercus rubra (see photo) and a slow white rotter of Q. robur, with which the annualy thin layers on the perennial brackets producing mycelium "grows old" together and that is why you can drive nails into wood with a bracket "harvested" from Q. robur. And because the mycelium of biotrophic parasites, like Phellinus species, can not switch to a saprotrophic phase once the tree is dead and falls, it does not invest in a fast decomposition of the wood, as it wants to also be active in the cambium for as long as possible to survive itself. So the better the quality of the heartwood of a tree species, the less damage is done on the short run.

 

 

 

Great insight, thanks for keeping the building blocks going Gerrit

 

 

 

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