Poplar hornet moth

[David Humphries]

What would be the best way to detect decay of that kind in a live tree?

 

Give it a poke with a sharp pokey type thing

 

 

Would definately like the location, thanks Peter

 

 

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[Peter]

Wouldn't have said it was that mushy really.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

When does pholotia fruit?

 

 

september, or when the first of the very late summer rains arrive and change the feel:thumbup:

[Peter]

Dont think it will still be there then, but I might nip back in autumn and see if there are any other trees with it.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Wouldn't have said it was that mushy really.

 

youll hear this early on like a drum if you tap em:thumbup1:

[Peter]

More info from Forest Research:

 

"Our experience of damage by hornet clearwing moth is that it is not the reason for stem failure, even when there are many moth exit holes in the base of the tree and damage appears to be quite extensive. We monitored a large number of poplars with and without hornet clearwing infestation over a 6 year period between 1999 and 2005 and despite a number of trees falling because of strong winds, in none of these cases could failure be attributed to the damage caused by the moth. In some cases, trees snapped 1-3m above the ground despite the base of the stem being riddled with hornet clearwing moth holes.

 

Generally, larva of hornet clearwing tunnel just beneath the bark and in the outer layers of the wood and they don’t tunnel deeply enough to cause any major structural weakness. Poplars that we saw that had failed had extensive butt and root rot, with large amounts of dead wood in the base, and this appeared to be the primary reason why they had failed."

[Peter]

I also looked at some other small pops that had failed at the base yesterday, one of them had these fruiting bodies at the base, any thoughts fungusheads?!

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

poor image

[David Humphries]

Coprinus would be my guess

 

 

If so, saprophytic and not the cause/culprit of failures of the pops in question

 

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[Peter]

I'll take my camera and get a better shot when I go back, lighting was tricky when I was there yesterday, really strong shafts of sunlight and really dim elsewhere.