White Poplar Rotting?

[Jack Price]

iv got a Big Pop outside my house which has already outgrown itself and needs to come down soon but now iv noticed a huge cavity at the base which has gunge leaking from it, iv been told that it's from water getting into the tree from somewhere in the canopy which is then rotting it, just wanted some info into the seriousness of this as the tree is really close to the house and would destroy it if it came down, thanks in advance

[Paul Barton]

Hard to tell from the picture to be honest. Does the gunge smell funky?

 

Water doesn't cause rot - decay fungi cause rot. In fact water pockets can help delay the onset of decay because they exclude oxygen.

 

Perhaps post some better pics on here or ask an experienced tree surveyor or consultant to give you their opinion in person.

[Jack Price]

yeah it does smell abit, you can fit your hand inside the cavity and it's really damp all round, also there is the same gunge coming from a dead limp a few feet up, il try and get some better photos

cheers

[Bundle 2]

iv got a Big Pop outside my house which has already outgrown itself and needs to come down soon.....

 

By 'come down" do you mean reduced or something else?

[Jack Price]

it's got to be felled, it was Originally a self set in a hedgeline which has been left

[Bundle 2]

Mmmm...Fair enough. I was asking to challenge your management strategy. Its a shame to lose trees that might be retained. It sounded like you were saying they grow too big for themselves and need to be removed which tends to fly in the face of "self optimising" structures but hey - pops are sometimes better gone ! They pollard well however....Nice bit of decay in there too....Only thinking of the conservation value, especially in an hedgerow - corridors for wildlife n' all tha' !

Welcome to the forum BTW !

Tim

[Jack Price]

Cheers mate we would obviously not mind the tree if it was smaller and not so fast growing but it's just far to big for it's location, its so close to the house which is why im trying to find out how serious this cavity is

[Fungus]

it does smell abit, you can fit your hand inside the cavity and it's really damp all round

 

You'll have to make sure, that the black ooze is not urine/excrements from bats, before you fell the tree. Besides, poplars naturally have wet wood caused by bacteria to keep fungi out of the central wood column of the tree.

Edited September 14, 2011 by Fungus

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Bacterial slime flux coming from the exposed bacterial wetwood within poplars.

 

there wont be rot, but T/R ratio is worth a look at.

[Jack Price]

Bacterial slime flux coming from the exposed bacterial wetwood within poplars.

 

there wont be rot, but T/R ratio is worth a look at.

 

just looked it up, i think you may be right, seems to be matching all the descriptions, thanks for you help:001_smile: