Poorly Oaks

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I bet those FC folk are worried about the dreaded P word. One look at those black lesions and it immediately comes to mind then is dismissed in favour of a less alarming diagnosis.

 

I am actualy starting to wonder now whether some of these cases may well be Phytopthora with armillaria as only a secondary agent due to the stress which is really where honey fungi come into their own. Im sure there is a distinct chance im going to get a kicking on this one now, bad ju ju.

 

I so wish i had scopes to really get into these things, I assume far too much and open myself up to errors, and with wolves waiting to feast on my carcass im going to have to up my game!

[daltontrees]

Coming from an unforgiving legalistic background where mistakes are weized upon with glee, I have found over the years that whilst there is nothing wrong with making assumptions they should be stated and an opinion offered based on the assumptions being valid; in other words if they are not valid all bets are off. And so are the wolves.

Me, I'm assuming all the trees were brought in to an otherwise clean site and that any Armillaria is isolated to the oaks as a result because it was brought in with all of them but not with the other species. Surmising rather than assuming. Anyway my hunch is phytophthora and I have nothing to base that upon except the pictures, some limited experience of it on a few trees and a bad bad feeling. Hope I'm wrong. If it's Armillaria it should be easy to confirm up-close.

[JonnyVine]

Coming from an unforgiving legalistic background where mistakes are weized upon with glee, I have found over the years that whilst there is nothing wrong with making assumptions they should be stated and an opinion offered based on the assumptions being valid; in other words if they are not valid all bets are off. And so are the wolves.

Me, I'm assuming all the trees were brought in to an otherwise clean site and that any Armillaria is isolated to the oaks as a result because it was brought in with all of them but not with the other species. Surmising rather than assuming. Anyway my hunch is phytophthora and I have nothing to base that upon except the pictures, some limited experience of it on a few trees and a bad bad feeling. Hope I'm wrong. If it's Armillaria it should be easy to confirm up-close.

 

Jules

It would be nice to hear one day that you have been made a member of the Bar!

 

Your narative never fails to impress and I always find myself falling short when I try to emulate it, I guess you either have it, or you don't.

 

How's the weather up there?

[daltontrees]

Excuse for once the lack of eloquence, the weather here is ****! No snow, though, just rain and wind and cold.

[Glen Poole]

Afternoon, Ok i've down to the site with Ben Jones from the Forestry Commission this morning & he carried out tests for Phytopthora. Good news! it's not. Bad news is he thinks the symptoms displayed are more than likely AOD. He will pass on the samples he took to the laboratory & said he'll be in touch with me in a couple of weeks. I'll pass on the news when i hear.

[armybloke]

I like this thread and am looking forward to the outcome!

[Glen Poole]

Ok, here's some more info on how the morning went.

So we meet on the estate this morning & head straight over to the 1st site of trees, approx 15 Oaks. I gave Ben all the info I had, age class, when they were planted, where they were bought from. We selected a candidate & got to work with a mallet & chisel & proceeded to remove the outer bark from the stem bleeds. Ben commented that he was suprised at how deep the staining went. He then took a small jar with some liquid & what looked like ball bearings, added some of the stained wood & shook for a minute. Put a couple of drops onto what looked like a pregnancy test kit. Waited for a few mins for the result. No signs of Phytopthera. Tested a couple more to be sure. What he did find in all the stem bleeds were exit holes from what could be from the buprestid beetle (Agrilus biguttatus). This is associated with acute oak decline. All samples bagged up & on their way to a lab. An interesting day out for me & i await the results.

[David Humphries]

Great update, thanks Glen

 

 

 

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[Le Sanglier]

Yes, thanks.

[Glen Poole]

Hi all, Just a little update but no diagnosis as of yet! Recieved an email this morning from Ben Jones & this is what it says.. Glen, i spoke with Sandra Denman (the pathologist who is dealing with the samples) yesterday & she is still working on them as it's not clear what the causal agent(s) are. She is still culturing from the samples but has yet to identify what has grown out. It is likely that she may need to go back to the site to obtain more samples, if that is the case are you happy to meet on site. So it looks like i'm going to be heading back down there with them, i'll take some more photo's & i'll update again, soon hopefully!