Western Red Cedar - diseased, dying or just flagging? No signs of disease..

[Calvados]

Hi Folks,

 

I have a mature Western Red Cedar which seems to have given up the ghost at a rapid pace.

I am not a tree surgeon myself but I have asked 3 local reputable tree surgeons to look at the tree and none of them can tell if it's diseased and none of them can think of an explanation for its rapid decline in foliage colour - since the photos were taken 3 weeks ago the branches have almost turned completely light brown in colour.

 

One guy said he thought it might have struggled with the recent years of drought then very wet conditions this year (we live in Kent) - which sounds viable but it is a mature tree and well established.  There are no obvious signs of external disease or fungi (though there is a dark core in the cutting - see photo).

 

I did my own research before the surgeons came over to check (and quote for removal if required) and the most common conditions seemed to be thuja blight or, if I was lucky, the tree was 'flagging' and would recover.

 

It would be great if anyone could share their opinions as, apart from the cost of removing the tree, I hate to take down mature trees and this particular tree has a prominent place in our garden.

 

But, with its seemingly rapidly decline in health (it seemed to go from green to the state when these photos were taken, in less than 5 or 6 weeks), I'm worried that it could become unstable and fall on to our neighbours house if not dealt with quickly.

 

The tree surgeons all seemed to think the tree would be fine (ie not dangerous) for a few months and it might be prudent to wait until winter to see if there any signs of recovery before taking a decision to take it down.

 

The other point to add to this case - and it could be a red herring - is that I had to remove a silver birch earlier in the year which was only about 20ft away as it had a fungus and was literally falling down.

 

And. elsewhere in the garden, I think I have seen in spring a small clump of honey fungus around the base of an apple blossom tree.   From reading, I'm not sure honey fungus would readily transfer to a Western Red Cedar but may be it could and it has...

 

Thanks for reading, I would really appreciate the advice of a 'disease expert' in this matter.

[dumper]

Without seeing the tree, don’t think it’s coming back,my guess would be a fungus stopping water uptake to the canopy

got to go

[openspaceman]

11 hours ago, dumper said:

Without seeing the tree, don’t think it’s coming back,my guess would be a fungus stopping water uptake to the canopy

got to go

Yes it looks like the whole tree has dieback rather than some fronds with blight or canker. It's a big tree so a bit surprising, some kind of aggressive pathogen like honey fungus??

[Mick Dempsey]

WRC or Thujas in Britain and France (the limit of my experience) do this a lot, get to a decent size and turn up their toes, they’re non native and rarely achieve a decent lifespan.

I doubt it’s coming back, whatever is killing it.

(sorry, not a disease expert)

Edited September 8 by Mick Dempsey

[woody paul]

Post pictures of trees in the same state and no one came up with an answer really. 

You will find they will be as dry as a bone when felled no sap at all. 

[Calvados]

Thank you to those who have posted.  It's sad to have the bad news kind of confirmed.  If it IS honey fungus (and as I said, I thought I had seen some at the base of an apple blossom in our garden and then has what i think was bracket fungus on a silver birch), I am concerned that the fungus will spread underground to all the trees in our front garden (including our large Scotts Pines).  Is there anything I can do to minimise the spread?

 

regards

[Calvados]

anyone have thoughts on my honey fungus concern?

[Treeation]

1 hour ago, Calvados said:

anyone have thoughts on my honey fungus concern?

Honey fungus is common and widespread in UK, (the largest organism in the world is honey fungus rooting sytems sthat spread over kilometres)

Generally speaking honey fungus is not be feared, it will only cause issues on trees that are already stressed. Healthy trees have the capacity to resist such invasions. It should also be noted there are several species of honey fungus and some of them are not active pathogens and merely live off dead wood/roots as they break down wood and recycle nutrients...more aggressive strains such as Armillaria mellea may well kill stressed trees rather rapidly within a year or so and then cause white rot decay around the root collar making the tree susceptible to failing at the base (this make take a few years to happen)....