Decay images

[RobRainford]

Kd is not always confined to the butt, so you may be right. The black lines are called "spalting" by woodturners, who lay maple logs on the ground for a season, hoping for such coloration.

 

 

there was some excellent spalting in this tree, although most of it has been burnt now!

 

ill get a shot of a branch union that had some nice spalting in, would make a great effect on a photo!

[Matthew Arnold]

The very building blocks of decomposition. The woodchip had only been there 3 days and it already had started to clump together. I shall be watching this thick spread develop over the next few years and documenting any fungi which come up.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

cool! just the kind of thing I love getting down and dirty in! Ramaria stricta loves this kinda scenario and does form THICK mats of mycelium.

[Fungus]

Ramaria stricta

 

Also look for Tubaria furfuracea, Pluteus romellii, Agrocybe praecox and A. rivulosa and Volvariella gloiocephala.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Also look for Tubaria furfuracea, Pluteus romellii, Agrocybe praecox and A. rivulosa and Volvariella gloiocephala.

 

[Xerxses]

not honey?

 

I'm pretty sure it's Pholiota... The tree had a healthy crown but FBs all around the trunk. It had to come down due to infrastructure work. So I didn't investigate further...

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Large Chestnut, and a very root localised colonisation of Kretschmaria deustsa (small black tar like clumps on butresses) This is why you SHOULD have your trees in high target areas (like this busy road) inspected annually, by a certified tree inspector with adequate insurance. The high winds we have had this year have exposed a lot of compromised trees for the hazards they are. Kretschmaria root rot is one of very few very pathogenic ascomycetes and causing a soft rot which degrades cellulose only with only very minor lignin degradation. It is a very serious problem on limes and horse chestnut as in this case, also acer, beech and several othe Broadleafs. It is difficult to detect without experience, often hiding in between butresses low down under leaf litter. Note the brittle root fractures at the root crown extremities.

 

For the most part fungi are a natural and desirable element in tree ecology and are mostly of little consequence to tree health but a few, like this one are to be viewed with great care and attention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[David Humphries]

I haven't noted such a low Kretzchmaria failure as that.

(which is supprising I guess)

 

Maybe another reason to strip Ivy off all susceptible species along highways.

 

 

 

Did that fall on to the road or away from it?

 

can't quite tell from the last shot.

 

(i'm thinking on to the road)

 

 

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[son of a birch]

Meripilus giganteus on beech (not my fell). Photos taken the day after felling.

[David Humphries]

Further evidence & documentation of the soft rot of Kretzschmaria duesta.

 

First shots of the (woodland) Beech still standing

 

 

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