Fungi help please.

[RobArb]

exactly, we can guess and offer opinion, but to make clear cut statements about what has/will happen/ed from photos alone shouldn't be recommended:biggrin:

[Treecreeper1961]

Possibly, but they are growing through the oak sleepers, way below the mulch bed level.

Not visible on the picture as the client hacked them of when they appears so that his kids didn't play with them.

 

It occurred to me today that the species of fungi, especially the sulphur tuft, could well be feeding on the oaksleepers themselves. Oak sleepers are quite rare round here, sleepers usually being old railway sleepers steeped in in organic chemical. Are they treated? Just a thought.

[Fungus]

It occurred to me today that the species of fungi, especially the sulphur tuft, could well be feeding on the oaksleepers themselves. Oak sleepers are quite rare round here, sleepers usually being old railway sleepers steeped in in organic chemical. Are they treated ?

 

Hypholoma fasciculare is a saprotrophic species, decomposing wood and woodchips with polyaromatic hydrocarbons.

[Treecreeper1961]

Hypholoma fasciculare is a saprotrophic species, decomposing wood and woodchips with polyaromatic hydrocarbons.

It's amazing that anything decomposes railway sleepers but the state of some reclaimed ones shows something obviously does.

That's interesting.

You gotta be able to withstand some pollution if your name is sulphur tuft.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Its true that it is never really a good and reliable setup for evaluation BUT in this case the situation is an often repeated one and is obvious even to the untrained eye, sycamore is also VERY poor at dealing with decays, any severance even of small diameter roots will effect the sycamore which has large leaves and a fairly high water demand, espeialy when open grown, a naturaly shade tolerant species.

 

species ecology tells its story and one can make very sound assesments even based on photographs when enough ecology is presented.

 

good shout ranger, Ive got your back!

[Fungus]

It's amazing that anything decomposes railway sleepers but the state of some reclaimed ones shows something obviously does. You gotta be able to withstand some pollution if your name is sulphur tuft.

 

I meant it decomposes dead wood with self produced organohalogens or polyaromatic hydrocarbons and the name Sulphur tuft (in Dutch Zwavelkop = sulphur head) comes from the colour of the cap and from the bitter taste.

[Treecreeper1961]

Sorry Fungus, misunderstood you there, I wasn't suggesting that as the reason for the name, it would have been fitting though.

The compounds laid down in heartwood to protect it from the decay organisms I know as phenols,terpines and tylosis, I didn't really think of them as poly aromatic hydrocarbons, I haven't gone into the chemistry in that much depth as yet.

What do you reckon Fungus? Does Sulphur Tuft show up as a decayer of damaged roots? I guess the point is it will colonise a range of dead wood?

 

Fair enough Hamadryad, I'm sure you and ranger are right, loss of and damage to roots is an obvious cause of decline in many species for sure, especially mature trees and some species being more susceptible undoubtedly.

So many symptoms of tree ill health are due to issues in the rooting environment, disturbance, waterlogging, compaction, suffocation, pollution and more.

The thing that struck me from the photos was that the fungi present are saprotrophic and not parasitic and therefore they are not in any way adding to or responsible for the decline of the tree.

The fact that there are two other sources of dead wood on the surface of the site, right where the fungi are growing, could mean they are not even feeding on the sycamore's dead and severed roots, if there are any.

If there were fruiting bodies from Armillaria, Ganoderma or Pholliota species then there would be a much stronger link between symptoms and cause.

I didn't mean to bring the original diagnosis, of a spiral of decline due to root damage into question, just to explore the possibilities that may be presented.

 

The title of the thread is fungi help, which suggests a concern that these are fungi are invading the tree and hastening it's decline, and I don't think they are.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Sorry Fungus, misunderstood you there, I wasn't suggesting that as the reason for the name, it would have been fitting though.

The compounds laid down in heartwood to protect it from the decay organisms I know as phenols,terpines and tylosis, I didn't really think of them as poly aromatic hydrocarbons, I haven't gone into the chemistry in that much depth as yet.

What do you reckon Fungus? Does Sulphur Tuft show up as a decayer of damaged roots? I guess the point is it will colonise a range of dead wood?

 

Fair enough Hamadryad, I'm sure you and ranger are right, loss of and damage to roots is an obvious cause of decline in many species for sure, especially mature trees and some species being more susceptible undoubtedly.

So many symptoms of tree ill health are due to issues in the rooting environment, disturbance, waterlogging, compaction, suffocation, pollution and more.

The thing that struck me from the photos was that the fungi present are saprotrophic and not parasitic and therefore they are not in any way adding to or responsible for the decline of the tree.

The fact that there are two other sources of dead wood on the surface of the site, right where the fungi are growing, could mean they are not even feeding on the sycamore's dead and severed roots, if there are any.

If there were fruiting bodies from Armillaria, Ganoderma or Pholliota species then there would be a much stronger link between symptoms and cause.

I didn't mean to bring the original diagnosis, of a spiral of decline due to root damage into question, just to explore the possibilities that may be presented.

 

The title of the thread is fungi help, which suggests a concern that these are fungi are invading the tree and hastening it's decline, and I don't think they are.

 

what I said was not meant to cause you to feel I was implying so:thumbup1:

 

inded there is nothing going on here but saprobic activity, the coprinus is the one that suggests root issues to me, unlikely from the oak sleepers unlike the Hypholoma which could be from iether as Hypholoma fasiculare does love a bit of dead oak butt.