Last Beech Standing

[ecolojim]

that's nice to see, thanks for showing. I would have been pretty shocked if there wasnt such a scheme going on in such a place

[David Humphries]

Its all good I reckon........

 

 

 

Thanks for posting tim,

 

It was nice to put a face to a user name yesterday.

 

All the best in your job search.

 

 

David

[David Humphries]

 

It just goes to show that the presence of sporaphores isn’t much to go on.

 

Andy

 

Or conversley the non presence.

 

Andy, in your Trees particular case, was it categorically proven that Merip was the active pathogen on the severed roots.

Was this asumption based just on the visual of positive Fb identification ?

 

Is it possible that there's possibly something else there, hiding in the wings letting Merip take the blame?

 

Ftr, I'm really not suggesting that Merip is not the casual agent here, but Tree fact is ever developing and we need to be mindful of this, and not ascribe our evidence based upon the fear factor of dogma.

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

We need to ask ourselves, whether enough science is being used to arive at informed judgement.

Edited November 21, 2008 by Monkey-D

[Bundle 2]

There were a number of issues put forward at the seminar...presented not as fact but as possible causes for complex interactions and environmental factors that MAY effect merrip.

Is merrip a composter...is it held in check by virtue of its being only weakly competitive.....Does it infact only take advantage of decayed roots as the tree sheds skin and grows so to speak?

You cannot hope to diagnose a tree and present a credible prognosis without first considering the whole raft of contributing factors....and imo, I think you are doing no-one any favors by repeating the age old cliche of merrip = saw...

in the example posted ( beech over river ) the rooting depth is likely very shallow ( river bed) They only exist on one side. they are likely struggling with anaerobic conditions. they look compacted....It can never be as cut and dried as is being suggested ( by some ).......

Perhaps the most interesting point/possibility, for me anyway, from yesterdays seminar was the possibility of finding a chemical marker that could be introduced to the trees lifesystems that would show the presence of merrip, beyond doubt. I would say if it can be shown that many trees successfully live and die with merrip, the attitudes and importantly, reputation of meripilus may at last change.

[Lee Winger]

There were a number of issues put forward at the seminar...presented not as fact but as possible causes for complex interactions and environmental factors that MAY effect merrip.

Is merrip a composter...is it held in check by virtue of its being only weakly competitive.....Does it infact only take advantage of decayed roots as the tree sheds skin and grows so to speak?

You cannot hope to diagnose a tree and present a credible prognosis without first considering the whole raft of contributing factors....and imo, I think you are doing no-one any favors by repeating the age old cliche of merrip = saw...

in the example posted ( beech over river ) the rooting depth is likely very shallow ( river bed) They only exist on one side. they are likely struggling with anaerobic conditions. they look compacted....It can never be as cut and dried as is being suggested ( by some ).......

Perhaps the most interesting point/possibility, for me anyway, from yesterdays seminar was the possibility of finding a chemical marker that could be introduced to the trees lifesystems that would show the presence of merrip, beyond doubt. I would say if it can be shown that many trees successfully live and die with merrip, the attitudes and importantly, reputation of meripilus may at last change.

 

Great post!

[Mesterh]

This one nearly killed a guy litereally by seconds.

Was a windy day.

He went to his shed because the door had blown opened(shed was directly under the tree) walking back to the house he heard a crack and saw the tree coming over so promptly ran away another 5-10 seconds and he would have been well and truly dead.

 

We must have cleaned up at least 5 beech that have came down over the years all with merrip.

 

Whether you are right about the merrip not being the cause of decay I cant say but it seems a big coincidence I would always recomend to fell if there are targets.

Would you give the to a tree like this if it was in a school playground?

[Mesterh]

A couple more.

[Lee Winger]

I'd say that wall with its footings and its root severance , played a major part in the failure of the above tree..

 

Sorry to bang on a subject thats very close to my heart, but I'm thinking compaction, plays a major part in the failure of old beech trees ..

Edited November 21, 2008 by Lee Winger

[scotspine1]

I would always recomend to fell if there are targets.

 

I agree Mesterh, but would you recommend felling if the fungi was the cambium killer Armillaria mellea in the same abundance as the Merip and there was some mild dieback in the canopy or would you Picus and Air Spade root etc further investigation?

[skyhuck]

 

Would anyone attempt to save this tree?

 

Not I !

 

But I may undercut your price, where is it!