the body language of Decay, The Delights of D

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

We have an Oak tree on one of the urban sites i manage. It is undermined by those pesky wabbits. It had a grey coloured, knobbly surfaced bracket fungi growing in a dip on one of the butresses. The crown in the summer is very healthy. We will be doin a minor amount of crown lifting with our polesaw. The epicormic growth/ crown lifting limbs are growing in a ring at the same height. I shall get some pictures of the work before and after and its proximity to targets. And will get some pics of the bracket fungi which is now in our office and it had fallen off.

 

one should in ALL cases try to retain foliage and limb structure around the lower trunks if it is at all possible, as the tree/fungal relationship progresses these lower branches help the proscess of compensatory growth by a close and easily located carbohydrate source.

 

rule of thumb, decay pocket, leave the foliage attached to its location.

[Matthew Arnold]

Will do hama. Should we take out the Elder around the base of the tree. We also have some long "sunseeker" limbs that move a massive amount in the wind should be have them reduced to save them snapping and potentially allowing further nasties into it. I know that taking the weight out would help but i've been taught that a neat, angled cut would be more beneficial to the tree as the water and spores would run off the angle rather than sit in the flat spot.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Will do hama. Should we take out the Elder around the base of the tree. We also have some long "sunseeker" limbs that move a massive amount in the wind should be have them reduced to save them snapping and potentially allowing further nasties into it. I know that taking the weight out would help but i've been taught that a neat, angled cut would be more beneficial to the tree as the water and spores would run off the angle rather than sit in the flat spot.

 

shortening over reached limbs is always good.

 

when we cut a branch the water pressure in the vessels is released, and the fluid falls backward creating a vacum capable of sucking in spores, so wound paints seal them in and no amount of angle will prevent them!

 

half the time the fungi a latent and already within the wood, just waiting for the wood to senesce/die/fall.

 

reducing is good, short fat is good

 

thinning bad tall thin not good

[Bundle 2]

Short & fat is good!

 

Thinning (bald). Tall & thin, not good:thumbdown:

 

Im surprised at you mate! Its all coming out now.

[Bundle 2]

At the risk of crashing your thread Tony, it has the makings of some very entertaining reading and instruction, I wanted to put this up.

You have touched on this in previous posts I know. It is the balance of this equation, an understanding and feel for the point of reference to the tree's real situation in the "equilibrium" of lifecycles that we should all strive to get a better handle on. Learning to do the right thing!

Perhaps it will keep the wolves from the door whilst you gather the images and thoughts you have in mind for further posts here. It has the makings of a great thread:thumbup1:

Good work !

rayner-fungi.pdf

[BatiArb]

O.k, so Colybia fusipes, a bit of a nasty parasite .....

 

 

Tony,

 

You did ask for comment about the descriptive language used it this thread....

 

I strongly believe that we MUST avoid the use of terms that describe the relationships between fungi and tree as one thing or the other.

 

I consider it incredibly important that we ovoid statements that allow no space for an improved understanding of the situation.

 

There was once a time when we considered all fungi to be diseases. Now we know that only a minority actually are. Parasitic fungi are not parasitic for all of their life cycle. Therefore should we actually be referring to them as parasites?

 

I would suggest that they are simply fungi operating in a parasitic mode at that point in time or stage of their life cycle.

 

What we as arborists need to understand it the conditions that occur within the fungal tree relationship that lead to the fungus operating in a parasitic mode. Or at least what we perceive to be a parasitic mode of decay.

 

 

 

 

 

.

[chris cnc]

for the record Hama i am very interested in what you are doing here and i'm sorry if i came across as rude in my previous comments, each to their own

 

keep up the good work!

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

in light of the above im going to do some reading on writing "scientificaly" before taking this one anyfurther.

 

Andy and Tony are absolutely right in all they say, and im doing niether you nor myself any favours by being so ameteur in my writing on this and other subjects, and raising my game is the name of my game!

 

I know most of you wouldnt hold it against me but I want to be taken seriously because this is an important subject and deserves to be solidly presented.

[BatiArb]

in light of the above im going to do some reading on writing "scientificaly" before taking this one anyfurther.

 

 

Tony,

 

It is not a case of writing scientifically. After all many 'scientific' papers can be a real B to understand sometimes. The complexity of the language used is not a good thing, and they can fall into exactly the same trap as I was pointing out.

 

I can be a bit pedantic at times when writing stuff down, but I frequently catch myself saying things that present far too black and white picture.....

 

For me it was exploring into the bat world that first made me realise the extent of knowledge we have yet to gain, and then it became obvious that the fungi were just the same.

 

More recently it has become apparent how much we also have to learn about our own natural ecosystem and our relationship with other organisms, not to mention the earth on which we live.

 

As I said the important thing is to be aware that we need to describe of everything as it appears to us, with a respectful understanding that someone else is going to perceive things differently and we are never going to know who is truly 'right'.

 

The wise man lives life with an open mind, without attachment to his own ideas and perspectives, totally prepared to be proven wrong at any minute and have his life's work disproven by someone who's thinking outside the box.....

 

 

 

Keep up the good work Tony..... you are presenting a your perspective and some very valuable personal observations. Good Effort

 

 

.

[scotspine1]

I strongly believe that we MUST avoid the use of terms that describe the relationships between fungi and tree as one thing or the other.

 

 

If Honey fungus was responsible for killing a tree, you have to tell the client Honey fungus killed the tree, surely thats the nature of the relationship between A. mellea and the tree in question?