Beech Tree - Doesn't look good

[Khriss]

Better to focus on maintaining the health of the other trees, drought stress prevention, mulching and soil compaction occurring - healthy trees can survive honeyfungus around them. K

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, RichSutherland said:

Should I be very concerned that this disease is there? This is a fully mature large Beech tree, I imagine removing all of the roots is next to impossible. 

I don't know, honey fungus gets everywhere, standard advice was to not plant a susceptible species near the site of the infected tree.

 

Also the RHS stance seemed to be from personal experience of their curator rather than science. After 1987 we had to pick up or excavate all the stumps and transport them to a stump dump. Awkward to get at, not windblown ones, were blasted.

[agg221]

Thanks for following up and bad luck on the tree. You might be getting more information than you ever wished for!

 

I grew up on an old orchard with honey fungus present. I distinctly remember that when we found it (in the late 1980s) all the literature, including the RHS, gave the impression that we were about to suffer creeping Armageddon with every tree in the place dying one by one.

 

Then we thought about it. In reality, the whole country was once wooded and no doubt honey fungus was present but the trees didn't all die. Some species are native, others were introduced centuries ago. They still haven't all died of it.

 

So we relaxed a bit and saw what happened. We found two trees which showed fruiting bodies. One was removed in 1995 as part of building a garage, the other is still there, still vigorous enough and, at 102yrs old, quite old for an apple. No others have shown any fruiting bodies.

 

I'm not suggesting it is trivial and should be ignored, but would personally go for the get rid of as much as possible and delay replanting approach and, with a healthy new tree, I would expect it to do well.

 

Alec

[RichSutherland]

Thanks all! Going to get a couple of quotes (not looking forward to seeing the figures) and will just try and keep an eye on nearby trees to make sure they're healthy. Will need to all be discussed with the council, as it has a TPO, Jerry said they will want a new tree planted - we would too of course, but not sure how flexible they are if there is honey fungus, or perhaps it is an argument to choose a tree species that is more resilient to it, like a Yew? 

 

This has been a deeper dive into trees than I ever thought I would do!

 

 

[RichSutherland]

Hi - me again!  

 

The current owners of the property have had a quote from someone before that sounds a bit cheap to me, but he has quite good reviews. I'll call and discuss with him but he had a suggestion where the trunk was turned into seating. I was quietly wondering if there was a use for the tree trunk - given the honey fungus, is this a terrible idea or actually could it be a good idea as I read that dead wood can prevent the fungus from spreading? 

 

Thanks!

[Mick Dempsey]

It’ll look crap.

[Stubby]

7 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

It’ll look crap.

Just come out with it Mick and stop pussying around will ya !

[RichSutherland]

1 hour ago, Mick Dempsey said:

It’ll look crap.

That's that then! haha