Anyone know what this might be

[Dowie]

Evening all, I was round my parents today replacing an old fence, when I had removed the old one I noticed the tree behind it was decayed at the base. the tree is on the boundary between their house and the neighbours, it is approx 24in diameter at ground and the decay is approx half the circumference and approx 8-10 in deep. It has had ivy up it in the past but that was cut five six years ago. In pic two below the rusty coloured wood looked as though it had wood worm or similar, lots of small holes and the wood turns to dust if handled.

There have been no signs of die back in the crown in recent years and the new leaf bud look healthy.

 

I am thinking it is going to have to come down given its close proximity to the house but was interested to hear what those of you in the know would think the cause could be.

 

The pics aint great so best guesses would be appreciated & apologies for my ignorance.

 

Cheers:001_smile:

[Dave D]

my guess would be it was either damaged when the fence was put up or animal damage. either way i would say it was physical trauma of some description and not likely recent. hope thats helpful?

Edited April 2, 2011 by Dave D

[Guest Infinitree]

Hard to tell... it doesn't look that tall though but couldn't say whether it's a danger to the house from the pics.This is a Hornbeam with a surreptitiously placed Beech leaf right?

As for the decay,dodgey pruning many years ago maybe?But probably home to a fair few beasties..Could re pollard back to previous stubs.

[Dowie]

Thanks for the replies, the Hornbeam (was my thinking), is at the end of a beech hedge, the last beech in the hedge has grown up through the hornbeam hence the leaves in the last pic, the stem has a lean to it and most of the growth is to the side of the lean, distance from stem to the house is about four metres and it has a phone line going through the top of the canopy. It has been reduced before, not sure how long ago.

 

At some point it lost a limb and the stub (pic 2) is soft and spongy, but i noticed some black veins in the rotten wood that are harder than the rest of the wood, small approx 1mm dia, wondered if it was "bootlaces" will try and get a pic tomorrow. My knowledge is limited re fungi and disease so not too sure.

 

thanks for your input

[Matthew Arnold]

Thanks for the replies, the Hornbeam (was my thinking), is at the end of a beech hedge, the last beech in the hedge has grown up through the hornbeam hence the leaves in the last pic, the stem has a lean to it and most of the growth is to the side of the lean, distance from stem to the house is about four metres and it has a phone line going through the top of the canopy. It has been reduced before, not sure how long ago.

 

At some point it lost a limb and the stub (pic 2) is soft and spongy, but i noticed some black veins in the rotten wood that are harder than the rest of the wood, small approx 1mm dia, wondered if it was "bootlaces" will try and get a pic tomorrow. My knowledge is limited re fungi and disease so not too sure.

 

thanks for your input

 

Doesnt sound like bootlaces. Sounds more like where the tree was trying to compartmentalise the wood and failed. So the harder, dark bits will last a bit longer than the soft mushy stuff.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

looks like kretzschmaria deusta, you can see the little charcoal like lumps in the lowers stem.

[Dowie]

looks like kretzschmaria deusta, you can see the little charcoal like lumps in the lowers stem.

 

Just googled kretzschmaria deusta, and it mentions that the immature fruiting body manifests as a white/grey flat layer, could that be what is in pic 1 on the main stem just up from the base. Based on description of kretzschmaria deusta, and the pics one would assume that's not good news in terms of keeping the tree. I appreciate that you would have to do a formal survey to confirm, and I am not looking for someone to say take it down/don't take it down, just interested in your thoughts.

 

cheers

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I think apart from the tree being so small, that in this instance the kretz is acting saprobicaly, meaning its living off all that dysfunctional wood that the damage caused.

 

no the white immature (asexual) stage is not what that white mark on the stem is, these tend to be numerous and small, that looks large, Kretz asexual fruiting bodies are about a centimetre across and sometimes in clusters often in singles.

 

Kept small with bi annual pollarding the hornbeam will survive for many many decades most likely

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

the reason why some of the wood feels hard and some spongey is because Kretz is very defensive of its territory and lays down a very efective barrier (black psuedosclerotial plating) and is a soft rot, which breaksdown cellulose leaving the lignin (stiff) almost entirely unaltered and hence hard, but the white rot and spongey textures are cambium consumers like stereums etc

[Dowie]

Thank you for the insight, I would always favour management over removal, pollard seems a sensible way forward, I don't know who carried out the reduction before, or how long ago but I think it was done to free up the phone line (by the previous owners).

 

I was surprised at the extent of the decay given that the crown seems in such good health, just the resilience of tree I suppose:001_smile:. I am new to the arb scene, doing cs30/31 in a couple of weeks then onto 38/39 in good time, but the health of trees and fungi are fascinating and something I know so little about. There are people on this forum yourself included who have forgotten more than I know and make this a valuable resource, thank you