is this phytophthera?

[gm77uk]

Hi all, I've been a bit of a lurker for the past month, and really enjoyed reading what you all have to say, and have learnt a lot so Thank you.

 

I sub contract to an organisation at an area of woodland, it has a lot of access throughout the summer and is part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest. over winter I been carrying out some felling and last week I came across this. Is this the dreaded Phytophthera? I've been doing a bit of research about it and it seems pretty nasty and complicated.

 

Does anybody have any advice?

 

many thanks

[Matthew Arnold]

The black ooze on the Birch is most likely down to rhizomorphs of Honey fungus. As for the spots on the Rhododendron leaves not sure.

[gm77uk]

Thanks matt, I've been a bit worried about it since i found it.

[treeseer]

The black ooze on the Birch is most likely down to rhizomorphs of Honey fungus.

This guess can be proven by removing dead tissue and looking for rhizomorphs or mycelial mats. It looks from here more like another pathogen, such as phytophthora. A blunt-tipped knife will excise dead bark without breaking barriers. A pic of those Armillaria structures would be awesome.

 

The tree in your first pic is totally flecked; several bad guys at work there, phytophthora the least of its worries.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

This guess can be proven by removing dead tissue and looking for rhizomorphs or mycelial mats. It looks from here more like another pathogen, such as phytophthora. A blunt-tipped knife will excise dead bark without breaking barriers. A pic of those Armillaria structures would be awesome.

 

 

Well I will back Matt up and say it is Armillaria, along with a bit of grazing damage, its the most common cause of demise in birches in the U.K and prime suspect here.

 

often these bleeds come at an early stage and one may have to wait for mycelial sheets to form and voids in the bark before rhizos. Much less bleeds wil be evident by that stage.

 

"without breaking barriers"? STOP IT!

[treeseer]

It's yourself that may need backing up here!

 

"often these bleeds come at an early stage and one may have to wait for mycelial sheets to form and voids in the bark before rhizos. Much less bleeds wil be evident by that stage."

 

So then there is no proof of the armillaria hypothesis?

 

"without breaking barriers"? STOP IT!

 

Get your hands on the tree and look inside. START IT! Bleeding lesions can be caused by many pathogens. Without evidence, the Arm hypothesis carries little weight; it hasn't a Leg to stand on arararar.

[Fungus]

So then there is no proof of the armillaria hypothesis? Bleeding lesions can be caused by many pathogens. Without evidence, the Arm hypothesis carries little weight; it hasn't a Leg to stand on

 

Guy,

So on what Leg does your hypothesis on one of the many other pathogens including Phytophthora to be responsable for the black oozing stand on then ?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

It's yourself that may need backing up here!

 

"often these bleeds come at an early stage and one may have to wait for mycelial sheets to form and voids in the bark before rhizos. Much less bleeds wil be evident by that stage."

 

So then there is no proof of the armillaria hypothesis?

 

"without breaking barriers"? STOP IT!

 

Get your hands on the tree and look inside. START IT! Bleeding lesions can be caused by many pathogens. Without evidence, the Arm hypothesis carries little weight; it hasn't a Leg to stand on arararar.

 

 

I am not going to argue with a master arborist Guy, weve been here before and its really daft, isnt it, you have your opinion and I have mine, and as long as you wanna bang on about barriers yours will mean little to me!

[Treecreeper1961]

Hi all, I've been a bit of a lurker for the past month, and really enjoyed reading what you all have to say, and have learnt a lot so Thank you.

 

I sub contract to an organisation at an area of woodland, it has a lot of access throughout the summer and is part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest. over winter I been carrying out some felling and last week I came across this. Is this the dreaded Phytophthera? I've been doing a bit of research about it and it seems pretty nasty and complicated.

 

Does anybody have any advice?

 

many thanks

 

I'm not sure about the trees although I would not totally rule it out at this stage.

The spots on the rhodi. more likely to be Rhododendron leaf blotch. Check out the information on Phytophthora ramorum on the Forestry Commission website, good photos of leaf symptoms.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I'm not sure about the trees although I would not totally rule it out at this stage.

The spots on the rhodi. more likely to be Rhododendron leaf blotch. Check out the information on Phytophthora ramorum on the Forestry Commission website, good photos of leaf symptoms.

 

least one of us is staying on track!

 

mmmm who started it orrf this time, was it me again! somebody said bariers didnt they!