Bifurcated beech, Fomes and ball of roots

[Fungus]

The failure could have been prevented by pruning or support, but that is the owner's decision.

 

A not that old beech in an extensively managed beech and Quercus rubra woodland on an estate with thousands of old beeches and old to veteran Quercus robur ? I don't think so .

[treeseer]

A not that old beech in an extensively managed beech and Quercus rubra woodland on an estate with thousands of old beeches and old to veteran Quercus robur ? I don't think so.

 

Whose decision is it then? Der Kaiser's?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Happy to share theories, my friend! Those fuzzy little rootlets definitely needed some help in forcing that fork apart! Even if wind and rain loading was shared by neighbors, that beech had its share.

 

Even the thinnest of mycelial felts can cause the separation of a fork like this, so even small roots are more than capable of doing the same treeseer, no wind nor rain required.

[Fungus]

Whose decision is it then? Der Kaiser's?

 

I'm just monitoring the extensively managed woodlands and lane trees on the estate while documenting every tree species specific phenomenon, including the mycoflora, of interest to my scientific research.

The owner is only informed of stability problems of individual trees if they are close to public roads and parking facilities on the estate. So maybe the decision should best be left to an arborist like the "better Guy" then ?

By the way, my family is not related to the German Kaisers .