An Icky Alnus...Phytophthora or Drought?

[sean]

Had a look at this Alder.....According to the gardner is was pruned (quite heavily) about 3 years ago and has consequently been in decline ever since. It has a very sparse crown now with small leaves and has started shedding branches.

 

Im guessing that the reduction coincided with either (a) a period of drought.....which it has never had the resources to recover from or (b) it has been infected with Phytophthora (possibly Phytophthora x cambivora) THe leading candidate In my humble opinion.

 

The tree is earmarked for removal as there is very little foliage this year.

 

Any thoughts please very welcome.

[Matthew Arnold]

Honey fungus is playing the cards now. Before too long it will be Alder Bracket (Inonotus radiatus) calling the shots.

[sean]

No evidence of mycelial sheets though or bootlaces:confused1:

[Matthew Arnold]

No evidence of mycelial sheets though or bootlaces:confused1:

 

Bootlaces don't need to be there to cause damage nor do the mycelial sheets. It may be in the roots causing havoc before it makes its way the up the stem looking for food. Most trees are affected by honey fungus if they have been hacked hard then have a few dry years so they can't recover.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Yellow mycelial cords suggest there is no armillaria there, I would want to get that checked out properly sean, Phytopthora is not my strong point as I have only ever seen it once believe it or not

[Nellybelly]

I'm interested to see what people come up with on this one.

 

I went fishing on the river teme last week and found that almost all the alder for about 4miles of the river had died and the ones that weren't are only just clinging on to life.

 

It's only been around 18months since i last visited the stretch and they didn't seem to be suffering then

[RobArb]

If it is phytophthora, then its p. alni not cambivora, or armillaria:001_rolleyes:

 

Sent from my Galaxy S2

[RobArb]

Yep, more I look at it the more its p. alni

 

Sent from my Galaxy S2

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

This sounds really bad, have you notified the FC?

[Graham]

Many hundreds of A. glutnosa are dead and dying from Phytophora along our Midland rivers and been so for a number of years. The upside is the creation of 'large woody debris' dams.