mycorrhiza vs root rot mushrooms

[martwizz]

I was surveying some trees yesterday and came across a semi-mature oak. It was in a fairly good condition, maybe 1ft DBH, no excessive epicormic growth, couple of hangers.

 

Within 2 ft of the base there were two mushrooms. Both were white, very wide (maybe 100mm) and rounded. For some reason its the only thing i failed to take a picture of! From searching google images a bit, the closest thing i can find that resembled it was a portobello mushroom! I did not recognise it as a familiar tree fungus.

 

I was just interested to know if there were any quick ways to identify the mushroom either as a detrimental root fungus or a mycorrhizal mushroom, without knowing every fungus off by heart.

 

My gut instinct is to recommend having this tree monitored as it potentially has a fungal infection attacking the roots.... but it might just be mycorrhizae?

 

[David Humphries]

Lots of resources out there to help Id fungi.

 

Some key things to think about are whether the mushrooms have gills or pores, & what colour they are.

Whether there is a ring on the stem or not.

 

Do you have any reference materials for the field?

Books, apps etc.....

 

 

Best advice is always take some photos, paticularly focussing on the above features.

 

 

The books and some of the apps will then have different levels of keys to help you in narrowing down the identification process.

 

 

 

 

.

[HCR]

I think really you need to identify the fungus in question before you can start making judgements about whether it is a saprobe, a parasite or a symbiont.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I think really you need to identify the fungus in question before you can start making judgements about whether it is a saprobe, a parasite or a symbiont.

 

Absolutely:thumbup1:

[Lee Winger]

I was surveying some trees yesterday and came across a semi-mature oak. It was in a fairly good condition, maybe 1ft DBH, no excessive epicormic growth, couple of hangers.

 

Within 2 ft of the base there were two mushrooms. Both were white, very wide (maybe 100mm) and rounded. For some reason its the only thing i failed to take a picture of! From searching google images a bit, the closest thing i can find that resembled it was a portobello mushroom! I did not recognise it as a familiar tree fungus.

 

I was just interested to know if there were any quick ways to identify the mushroom either as a detrimental root fungus or a mycorrhizal mushroom, without knowing every fungus off by heart.

 

My gut instinct is to recommend having this tree monitored as it potentially has a fungal infection attacking the roots.... but it might just be mycorrhizae?

 

 

Hi just out of interest were you getting paid for this survey?

Edited December 16, 2012 by Lee Winger

[MATTMOSS]

I think really you need to identify the fungus in question before you can start making judgements about whether it is a saprobe, a parasite or a symbiont.

 

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