Tis the season to see Fungi, fa la la la la....

[Jake Andrews]

Coming out or staying Jake?

 

 

 

.

Staying David. Very little targets and the tree has been reduce in the past. Very sheltered in its position also. We are regularly in the garden to keep an eye on it and the client loves the tree.

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Arbtalk mobile app

[David Humphries]

Also had a interesting turn of events a couple of weeks ago. Had an Ash tree with severe die back on one side (the side adjacent a very recent house extension from the neighbours😉) we removed the deadwood so we could review the tree next spring and see if it would retrench further before considering what remedial action should be taken. The soil was also very dry so we added a mulch layer as far as the client would allow us.

The following week we get an email with pictures of extensive colonisation of Armillaria around the roots and Base closest the new extension. Client initially thought we had brought in the Armillaria and after lengthy talks and he did his research, he was OK. But just got me thinking about VTA, you can only prescribe what you see.

Now then, do you think we may have stimulated the Armillaria with the mulch layer. laying down more food for it perhaps?

 

 

Don't imagine things would move that quickly Jake, perhaps the rhizomorphs were in the root zone prior to the mukch being laid and the fruit bodies have just come through the mulch from below.

 

 

.

[Jake Andrews]

Oh I have no doubt that the tree had the Armillaria in its system prior our arrival. I was just throwing the question out weather we may have stimulated the fruiting with the mulch. Client is certain that it hasn't fruited before.

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Arbtalk mobile app

[Kveldssanger]

Interesting question. Mulch would change the soil microclimate, as well as potentially the pH (depending on what the mulch was comprised of). Thus, if indeed it is the first time it has fruited (which is anecdotal, but nonetheless a curious observation), it would be interesting to understand why. A lovely source of carbon and nitrogen will be provided by the mulch, and in a plantation with plenty of stumps one can see honey fungus wreak havoc. As David says, such an instantaneous response may mean it's pure coincidence. Of course, there may still be a link, however.

[David Humphries]

Grifola frondosa fruiting for the first time in a couple of years on this cherry.

Unusual association, perhaps attributable partly from the root girdling

 

.

[David Humphries]

Hi David. I don't disagree that G. frondosa on cherry is unusual, but why attribute it to the root girdling. The root is still the cherry, isn't it.

 

Mean the other way round, girdling leading to constriction of the vascular system of the buttress and associated root(s) leading to dysfunction and underside decay, just a hunch.

 

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-health-care/49361-girdled-roots.html

 

.

Edited November 17, 2016 by David Humphries

[Jake Andrews]

Interesting question. Mulch would change the soil microclimate, as well as potentially the pH (depending on what the mulch was comprised of). Thus, if indeed it is the first time it has fruited (which is anecdotal, but nonetheless a curious observation), it would be interesting to understand why. A lovely source of carbon and nitrogen will be provided by the mulch, and in a plantation with plenty of stumps one can see honey fungus wreak havoc. As David says, such an instantaneous response may mean it's pure coincidence. Of course, there may still be a link, however.

I'd like to believe that it's not a coincidence but finding the connection is the hard part. Possible aeration disturbance from the mulch causing panick fruiting? That is purely off the top of my head by the way.

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Arbtalk mobile app

[Kveldssanger]

Disgustingly photogenic Abortiporus biennis at the base of a large poplar found today. I was out mapping trees and caught this dude hiding amongst a pile of leaves, and after clearing them away all I could see was a thing of beauty.

 

It's actually quite similar to Phaeolus schweinitzii in the manner in which it forces itself out from underneath the ground, sometimes sitting on a very long pseudostipe (false stem).

 

I should really extend similar compliments to the fiancee!

Edited November 18, 2016 by Kveldssanger

[David Humphries]

You've got it bad Chris, not far from time for therapy mate

 

 

Few bits and bobs from today at work

 

.

[Kveldssanger]

I'm thinking Mucidula mucida, Rhodotus palmatus (??), Ganoderma pfiefferi (I know that beech, assuming it is that!) and Amanita muscaria. Really would like to see more of the Amanitas around this way, though urban areas that aren't pre-war tend to be polypore havens and of common caps that feast on stumps. Caught some delightful Coprinopsis lagopus yesterday (of all ages of cap) on a shadow stump of horse chestnut. That really is another beautiful one! Mycorrhizal fungi tend to not really fruit, perhaps due to the grass cutting regime though maybe also the compaction of the ground and dispersed nature of the trees - and microclimate, of course.

 

Observation: I have seen Fistulna hepatica still fruiting (and very fresh!) but only on the inside of old oaks where the microclimate is entirely different. I suspect that the fungus can sustain fruiting much longer into the autumn inside these hollow trunks than it can on the outside, as the only ones on roots and trunks open to the elements are long gone. Probably obvious, thought I am thinking aloud here as others may have comments that support or go against this observation of mine.

Edited November 18, 2016 by Kveldssanger