the body language of Decay, The Delights of D

[RobArb]

Thanks Gerrit

 

I can see the difference in pic one and two quite clearly but would there ever be a time when pic 2 could end up like pic 1 or would the stem girdling roots be too detrimental to the tree before the "water basin" effect ever becomes advantageous?

[Matthew Arnold]

Did some basic surveys on these Common/English Oaks. Most of them have a defect in one way or another. First 5 pics are of a roadside oak. The road only a residential one so not overly busy but busy footpath underneath it. The next 5 pics are of its roadside neighbour. It has Inonotus dryadeus at the base and very obvious decay judging by hole made by local kids in butress root. The next 2 is of what i believe is Chicken of the Woods growing from an old wound and a pictures of its crown from the base. The final 5 are of another Oak on the site with Inonotus dryadeus growing from the base. I shall get some better shots on Saturday as my current new camera is nackered. So will be using my SLR again.

[Fungus]

I can see the difference in pic one and two quite clearly but would there ever be a time when pic 2 could end up like pic 1 or would the stem girdling roots be too detrimental to the tree before the "water basin" effect ever becomes advantageous?

 

Rob,

Yes, I've seen some cases, a few times with beech and once with an Acer, of a girdling root, as a result of strangulating, "shutting off" the water and nutrient supply of another root while crossing it.

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[Fungus]

The next 5 pics are of its roadside neighbour. It has Inonotus dryadeus at the base and very obvious decay judging by hole made by local kids in butress root. The final 5 are of another Oak on the site with Inonotus dryadeus growing from the base.

 

Matt,

As I don't have much experience myself with I. dryadeus (I find myself lucky every time I see one ), because in The Netherlands it is a very rare species, fruiting on very old Q. robur, which are mainly in rural estates not or only partially open to the public, so the trees and the fungus are "protected" and treated as monuments, I'll translate what Mattheck has to say based on his experience with I. dryadeus on road side trees.

Type of rot : white rot (and soft rot, according to other sources). Mostly the undersides of the roots or the rootplate, the buttresses and/or the sub-ground level of the base of the trunk are affected. The heart wood becomes soft and the tree vulnerable of windthrow because of the roots and/or buttresses easily breaking off.

Maybe Tony and/or David can add some information from their own experience to it.

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[alliaria]

Hi,

Looks like classic eiffel tower decay, the tree should be fine unless the buttress roots are compromised.

[David Humphries]

I'll translate what Mattheck has to say based on his experience with I. dryadeus on road side trees.

Type of rot : white rot (and soft rot, according to other sources). Mostly the undersides of the roots or the rootplate, the buttresses and/or the sub-ground level of the base of the trunk are affected. The heart wood becomes soft and the tree vulnerable of windthrow because of the roots and/or buttresses easily breaking off.

Maybe Tony and/or David can add some information from their own experience to it.

 

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we have actually found dryadeus fruiting 5 or 6 meters up on a trunk of an Oak.

 

A rarity from what I can make out, but an indication that decay can be further up a trunk than text usually states.

 

Possibly leading to the potential for failure of the trunk at height.

 

.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

The fact remains That I have yet to see a windthrow caused by Inonotus dryadeus, and knowing in excess of 200 trees colonised, including the vast majority of those oaks at Hatfield forest, many at bradgate deer park also, some of which have completley lost the colonisations and grown on past the infection.1

 

I am not at all classifying this species as particularly dangerous except in cases where stress or mechanical loading is unusual.

 

I will do a dedicated thread to inonotus dryadeus when I get home this evening.

 

 

ANY decay needs evaluating thoroughly, each tree/fungus relation ship is unique and circumstance may differ from site to site.

[Fungus]

we have actually found dryadeus fruiting 5 or 6 meters up on a trunk of an Oak. A rarity from what I can make out, but an indication that decay can be further up a trunk than text usually states.

Possibly leading to the potential for failure of the trunk at height.

 

David,

Looking at the photo and the size of the bracket and its presence at this hight makes me wonder, whether you have considered this to be (the first U.K. finding ? of) Inonotus dryophilus, a species of which is documented, that it never fruits at the trunk base, but always at greater hight on Quercus robur or Q. petrea.

As to the preferred fruiting spots and attacking zones of different Inonotus species, see my post on : Preferences of Inonotus species, to which I can add, that I. dryadeus, just as Fistulina hepatica, probably likes the "assimilation factory" at the base of the trunk best, because of its richness of locally produced (vinegar) acids, as both species also fruit on Castanea sativa and never on Q. rubra.

Besides, not just Mattheck, but both Breitenbach & Kränzlin and Ryvarden & Gilbertson state, that : "Basidiocarps typically develop at the ground line at the base of infected trees or from roots at some distance from the base." (R & G, European Polypores, part I, page 321).

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[Fungus]

1. The fact remains That I have yet to see a windthrow caused by Inonotus dryadeus, and knowing in excess of 200 trees colonised, including the vast majority of those oaks at Hatfield forest, many at bradgate deer park also, some of which have completley lost the colonisations and grown on past the infection. I am not at all classifying this species as particularly dangerous except in cases where stress or mechanical loading is unusual.

2. ANY decay needs evaluating thoroughly, each tree/fungus relation ship is unique and circumstance may differ from site to site.

 

Tony,

1. Your monitoring and evaluating the effects of I. dryadeus on oaks in forests, woodlands and parks, but as Mattheck once told me, in Germany the problem of decay and windthrow by I. dryadeus, which is always fruiting at the base and butts of Q. robur, even with relatively young trees mainly arises with affected "free standing" trees alongside roads and streets or lanes in cities.

2. Well spoken , a rule of "law" for everyone to learn by heart, as you can conclude from my remarks on your first statement .

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[Fungus]

Besides, not just Mattheck, but both Breitenbach & Kränzlin and Ryvarden & Gilbertson state, that : "Basidiocarps typically develop at the ground line at the base of infected trees or from roots at some distance from the base." (R & G, European Polypores, part I, page 321), ...

 

... which - of course- does not mean, that you could not be the first one documenting I. dryadeus fruiting at great hight .