Armillaria and replanting help required.

[Gary Prentice]

not many options really - stick a yew hedge in, slow growing but she will have to deal with it

 

Thought had crossed my mind. I'll get some prices sorted in the new year and discuss the options. I'm not sure if is that slow, maybe just slow to establish. Certainly a better selection to retain at the 3m height without getting too broad.

[Scottie]

What about good old privet? lol

[hedgesparrow]

if she wants a hedge that is green all year as other posts holly or yew. but not liyandi yuk horrible stuff. with holly or yew will grew very thick so ideal as a wind barrier, birds will love the holly for the berries if you put females and males for pollination and ideal for nesting. they are low growing but a holly or yew hedge if looked after do look nice. if she does not mind it bare in winter then plant a native hedge mix hawthorn blackthorn purging buck thorn, maple, wayfaring ,beech. mixed with dog rose has all of the above. can get 90to 120cm plants for 50p each

if you do plant other than lyandi then a membrane over the soil to stop weeds coming through.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I've a client with some real tree health issues and to be blunt I'm stuck with how to go forward.

The client wants a row of 3m tall leyland cypresses planting, approximately 30, to screen a road and reduce the noise level. The garden has a number of semi-mature ash, horse chestnut, lime and sycamore. Yesterday we removed a sycamore with armillaria infection and a chestnut with bleeding canker.

The armillaria I'm assuming has taken hold from a stump a couple of meters away. We ground the sycamore and a number of old stumps, removing all the grindings and replacing with fresh soil. The lime looks to have phytophthora and at least one other tree has collibia fucipes.

The property is fairly new (10yrs maybe) and I suspect that during construction the rooting zones were comprised and a lot of these trees may be struggling. I haven't seen anything in leaf, so can't assess too much.

She's keen to plant the hedge, as well as some replacement trees, but I think its too high risk. I was debating replacing a lot of soil along the hedge line and putting rootbarriers in, to isolate the new plants, but the existing trees would prevent that. Soil fumigation is an avenue to search, but I don't want to destroy any mycorrhiza because I think the group needs every benefit it can gain.

Oh, the sites lawned or I'd be chucking a load of well composted chip down for starters.

 

If the Honey fungus species is Mellea (most likely) Leylands will cope fairly well, especially as they are new plants free of the damage/stress incurred to others on site.

 

Your gut instinct on fumigation being a negative is spot on, and unnecessary for the reasons you suspect regarding mycorrhizae and other beneficial biospheric organisms too, the soil ( rhizosphere) is a complex community and imbalances are the root cause of symptoms above ground. Addressing soil/rhizospheric imbalances will resolve the issues with negative decay fungi. healthy soil communities and trees can and do cope with pathogens, only imbalances cause issues.

 

I wouldnt remove soil, for the same reasons i wouldnt do the fumigation, mulching, sugar application and even assessments of the soil nutritional profile if possible would be a good avenue to explore in such a set of imbalances.

 

Your lime bleeding/tar spots will be mellea also and is very normal, limes are susceptible, but will be fine as long as optimum growth conditions can be restored.

 

Mulching is a great way of boosting soil biological action including fungal predation/grazing, never underestimate what even a small ring of mulch can achieve in tree health, it simulates natural forest floor biology.

 

There are species that are more resistant to mellea, Oaks, and Beech for example, depending also on the acidity of the soil, preferably on the alkaline side for beech or slightly over the neutral line for Oak, with neutral acidity being optimum for multi species planting.

 

I hope this was usefull to assist in exploring the potential for remediation and increased your options.

[Gary Prentice]

Hi Tony, I was kinda hoping you'd arrive in this thread.

 

Strouts and Winters 'Diagnosis of Ill Health' classifies Leyland as intolerant (I think, I don't have it hand at the moment) but other sources I've read differ. I understand what you are saying though. The difficulty that arises is the more I read, the more questions arise.

 

I've been offered soil sampling from another forum member, which I'm going to take up. My query would be, would nitrogen benefit the armillaria, if presently deficient and requring amendment?

 

I sent a picture of the lime to our local T.O, who confirmed the phytophtora, but I would value your opinion. It's a very large file size and I can't post it. Would you mind if I emailed to you? Its evident at ground level, although I think the ground level has been raised. If I can talk the client into at least a meter radius of woodchip mulch I think it may be worth exposing the root collars.

 

With regard to the sugar solution, I've read on here about its use after malicious tree poisonings and that Glyn Percival has advocated it but can't find a link. I'd assume that the first application would be just before buds start to break?

 

 

Anyway, there appears to be a lot more options than I originally thought. The clients pretty amenable and loves her trees, which is also a good start. Thanks to everyone who has posted for the insight I've received

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Hi Tony, I was kinda hoping you'd arrive in this thread.

 

Strouts and Winters 'Diagnosis of Ill Health' classifies Leyland as intolerant (I think, I don't have it hand at the moment) but other sources I've read differ. I understand what you are saying though. The difficulty that arises is the more I read, the more questions arise.

 

I've been offered soil sampling from another forum member, which I'm going to take up. My query would be, would nitrogen benefit the armillaria, if presently deficient and requring amendment?

 

I sent a picture of the lime to our local T.O, who confirmed the phytophtora, but I would value your opinion. It's a very large file size and I can't post it. Would you mind if I emailed to you? Its evident at ground level, although I think the ground level has been raised. If I can talk the client into at least a meter radius of woodchip mulch I think it may be worth exposing the root collars.

 

With regard to the sugar solution, I've read on here about its use after malicious tree poisonings and that Glyn Percival has advocated it but can't find a link. I'd assume that the first application would be just before buds start to break?

 

 

Anyway, there appears to be a lot more options than I originally thought. The clients pretty amenable and loves her trees, which is also a good start. Thanks to everyone who has posted for the insight I've received

 

 

Its highly unlikely its phytopthera, send the shot over to me at [email protected], trees get armillaria bouts like we get colds, and common as the same too, wheras phytopthora is far and away rarer

 

I will try and find some papers on Glyns work when I get time they wil be hard to locate! in a massive vault of PDF's that I hoard!

[Gary Prentice]

Tony, thanks for the positive I.D on the phytophthora. I came across SOIL INJECTIONS OF CARBOHYDRATES IMPROVE ROOT GROWTH OF ESTABLISHED URBAN TREES. Which I can't link for some reason

Edited December 31, 2012 by Gary Prentice
posted broken link