Fungi/exudate ID if you would, chaps?

[Ben90]

Morning all, I've got a Q. robur here with a historic wound which seems to be showing some phytophthora-like exudates. I'm pretty sure it's phytophthora ramorum, but I'd like a conformation first because as soon as scary words like 'Sudden', 'oak' and 'death' are uttered, the caustic, tree-hating residents with their weak-roofed park homes will be up in arms with torches and pitchforks.

 

Some info: healthy buttresses, even vigor across canopy, historic wound showing apparent signs of stress, no honey fungus or any other brackets in the vicinity.

 

There are also around 150 other beautiful mature oaks in the area, could this be a case of fell one to hopefully save the lot?

[Bundle 2]

Not seeing the "fungi" of the title...am I missing something?

Does the exudate smell atall?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Ive seen an oak get over it, BUT, would be a wise move to remove it and protect stock on site from further contamination.

 

Ive seen a report recently from VERY well respected consulting arb who recomended not only felling the infected trees, but several in the closest proximity to contain spread.

 

personaly I wouldnt be so harsh, but advice from higher powers may be VERY different, contact the forestry commision for some more acurate details on Ramorum and the latest managment proposals/recomendations.

[Ben90]

Okay that's great, thanks. Yeah slight error in the title there, not sure why I wrote fungi.

 

I suppose we'll monitor it this year and see how it flushes next spring. Oaks are compartmentalising fiends after all.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

At the end of the day, its proximity and eventual size means this tree has no future anyways, may as well clean fell and avoid the risk of contamination, and use the increased justification of a more suitable replacement

[Dave Gardner]

Sorry to be a pedant with my first post but that looks to me like it is Acute Oak Decline rather than P.ramorum. On several sites I have been involved in the management of, this has resulted in significant levels of tree mortality where clusters of symptomatic individuals develop. There is a fair bit of info on AOD on the Forest Research website but unfortunately there is no concrete guidance on how to deal with infected trees, in your situation, given the targets present, my opinion would be to fell as a sanitation measure to try to minimise any future spread. If it is felled, it'd be worth finding out what recommendations FR have regarding dealing with the arisings. Hope that helps, Dave

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

If the arisings where chipped and stored in a pile i doubt the organisms would survive the temps and conditions.

 

I agree on the clear fell for contamination control, just isnt even an issue under the circumstances.