Phellinus ignarius - Willow Bracket

[Parker]

I've recently looked at a large mature Willow with several brackets of Phellinus ignarius starting at 1m up the stem into the canopy which is overhanging an area at a local nature reserve that is used for teaching / children's birthday parties etc.

 

Does any one know how aggressive Phellinus ignarius is?

[David Humphries]

We have it on a number of willows at work, haven't seen a 'trunk' failure of one with the association yet.

 

From my experience it is a lignin decaying cavatationer & detached wood saprophyte, but may have the propensity to over take the trees ability to lay down a thick enough residual wall.

 

 

 

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[Fungus]

I've recently looked at a large mature Willow with several brackets of Phellinus ignarius. Does any one know how aggressive Phellinus ignarius is?

 

Phellinus ignarius is one of the perennial bracket fungi that play an important role in the bringing down of older willows, after which regeneration from the remaining trunk parts takes place. IME it's very invasive and associated with high risks of breaking of the tree and/or its crown. Would coppicing the tree be a possibility ?

Edited April 14, 2012 by Fungus

[Parker]

Two different points of view - the beauty of a forum

 

Fungus - coppicing it would be a little bit severe, I was thinking maybe a hard pollard down to 10-15ft to reduce the sail area and just manage the tree a veteran pollard.

 

Would the failure be in severe weather or could it happen at any time?

[David Humphries]

Two different points of view - the beauty of a forum

 

I was thinking maybe a hard pollard down to 10-15ft to reduce the sail area and just manage the tree a veteran pollard.

 

 

Thats how we do it on a number of affected Willows

 

 

 

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[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Thats how we do it on a number of affected Willows

 

 

 

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its exactly how I too would manage this association. Failure occurs in longer slenderness ratio cases with increasingly narrow T/R ratios, pollarding addresses the issues and once the new framework of foliage is re established carbohydrates are closer to where they are needed for any compensation.

[Fungus]

coppicing it would be a little bit severe, I was thinking maybe a hard pollard down to 10-15ft to reduce the sail area and just manage the tree a veteran pollard.

Would the failure be in severe weather or could it happen at any time?

 

We Dutch have a long tradition of coppicing willows, we never pollard willows with the exception of weeping willows.

I've seen severely affected willows fail under normal weather conditions or in mild storms.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

We Dutch have a long tradition of coppicing willows, we never pollard willows with the exception of weeping willows.

I've seen severely affected willows fail under normal weather conditions or in mild storms.

 

and in the U.k we have been pollarding all willow species, crack willow seems to be the most prone to limb failures when regrown though, and ive seen them tear long strips of cambium as they fail which can cause large sections to die. Seems the older trees and larger cuts are the culprits.

[Parker]

its exactly how I too would manage this association.

 

It's good to know I am thinking along the same lines as other people.

 

I would much rather manage the risk and pollard the tree, retaining it for its ecological value then remove it altogether.

 

Fungus - I think coppicing it would be a bit severe and the young shoots might be vulnerable from browsing or being broken by vandals. At least if you pollard it theres no risk of this.

[Fungus]

pollard the tree, retaining it for its ecological value then remove it altogether ... coppicing

 

IME coppiced willows have a much higher ecological value, because they provide in a lot more niches for other organisms than pollarded willows.